There was an ancient story about a wise man meditating by the river. In the process, he saw a scorpion that crawled on the rocks and fell on the water. Disturbed by this, he momentarily stopped his meditation and tried to save the poor creature from drowning. As he tried to save the scorpion, it defended itself with its venomous sting causing him severe pain on his hands. After making sure the poor thing crawls back on the rocks he tried to focus back on his meditation. Some seconds later, he observed the scorpion back on the water and struggling for its life. So he halted his prayer once again and tried to save the arachnid from killing itself. Instinctively, the scorpion stung him once again with its tails and causing the man terrible pains.As all of this happens, another man was observing from the top of a ridge. He yelled to the wise man, “You fool! Why do you keep on saving that creature only to harm you over and over again?” The wise man answered, “Don’t mind me my friend, my nature is to save, its nature is to harm.”
In this life, how many times did we act like the wise man trying to save the scorpion? Have you ever been hurt just because you tried to save another person from hurting themselve once, twice, or over and over again? Have you ever caused pain to your loved ones and acted like you never cared because you were so selfish about your own feelings? Where you ever like the old man sitting by the river judging people by what they see instead of helping those in need?
Man’s relationship with God is like the old man and the scorpion. In Eden, Adam and Eve was expelled because of sin and through this the whole of humanity lost the opportunity to gain an eternal life. But our God is a loving God who in spite of our constant infliction of pain still manages ways to save us even to the extent of giving up His precious Son so that we can partake in the glory of God's heavenly kingdom.
We do not have to live the life style of a monk or a saint to demonstrate love to our fellow man. Let us all cease living selfish lifestyles and be like little Christs in this world. Start caring for the less fortunate even on the simplest of ways. Each good deed takes less weight on the cross Christ carries on his shoulder. The lighter Christ takes our burdens to Calvary, the better this world can be for man and his eternal salvation.