MR. HOPPY FROG'S LAST HOP
By Patricia Mulligan Jones
It was beginning to get dark and cooler outside. WHERE was Mr. Hoppy Frog's family? He looked around and realized that he had made a wrong turn somehow, and had ended up on "Confusion" street. What's worse, he was hungry.
On the left, Mr. Hoppy saw a beautiful well-lighted house, with smoke coming out of its chimney. He hopped over to the house, where a woman, Miss Cook, had some nice juicy bugs awaiting him. "Yum, yum," he thought. "But what kind of different bugs were they?" Then Miss Cook asked him to come into her house. When she opened the door, Hoppy took a big leap inside.
Hoppy rested a minute, and listened to Miss Cook's repetitive songs and strange speaking as she worked in the kitchen. He did not want to be away from his family, but felt rather privileged to be in this house. He was mesmerized by all he saw and heard!
He saw Miss Cook get some big pot out of a shelf, but was too short to see what else she was doing. He wondered what she planned to fix for dinner. Little did he know how important he fit into her plans. He was totally unaware that she wanted to devour certain specially selected frog legs!
Deceitful Miss Cook had filled a pot with water, and turned on the burner. When the water nearly reached a boiling pot, she went over to Mr. Hoppy and picked him up. He trusted her. After feeding him a few more strange bugs, and repeating some strange repetitive phrases, she threw him into the hot pot.
Poor Hoppy! Before he knew what hit him, he had gotten himself into hot water! He did not like the heat, so he jumped out of the pot.
Hmmmmm……Miss Cook wanted to devour those tender frog legs. So she thought up a NEW strategy, to KEEP the frog in the pot.
The deceitful woman poured out the hot water and replaced it with nearly cool, but not cold, water. Next, she cut up a few chunks of carrots and potatoes. Then she caught Mr. Hoppy Frog and sat him on top of a chunked potato. "Ah! That's more like it," Hoppy responded. The water was just about right to swim in, and he had some strange looking "lily pads" to jump on - orange ones.
While Hoppy was enjoying the activities he was performing in the water, Miss Cook quietly turned on the burner - but very low. Hoppy never noticed a change.
In a little while, Miss Cook gradually turned the heat up - just about to lukewarm. All the swimming and jumping around wore out Hoppy. So he fell asleep on a drifting potato chunk.
As soon as Hoppy fell asleep, deceitful Miss Cook turned the heat up HIGH. The flames soon caused the water to boil. Poor Mr. Hoppy Frog! He did not know what all he was hopping in. The LUKEWARM water had GRADUALLY led him to fall asleep, and later die from the growing flames beneath him. Deceitful Miss Cook DEVOURED her freshly cooked frog legs.
Too many Christians today are like Mr. Hoppy Frog, also. Like Hoppy, they suddenly make some wrong turn with decisions, because they let up on or stop daily praying, reading their Bibles, and/or attending church services regularly. They somehow lose touch with Jesus, causing their relationship with Him to dwindle. The next thing they know, they are on "Confusion" street, spiritually hungry for what they used to enjoy with Christ.
Like Miss Cook, the devil wants to devour all of us, since Jesus called him a "roaring lion." The devil provides all kinds of worldly things, like the beautiful house Hoppy saw. He feeds his victims all kinds of strange and dangerous "bugs," like temptation, doubts, discouragement, depression, hopelessness, false peace, and so forth. He repeats whatever he knows mesmerizes or fascinates the victim most.
Mr. Hoppy would not stay in hot water long, as Miss Cook discovered. The devil also knows he will not get us to directly jump into hot water either, spiritually speaking. For example, most of us would not ever be convinced to rob a bank, murder someone, or any thing else as extreme. No, like Miss Cook, the devil finds out what our weaknesses are, first. Then he gets his intended victims to enter the cooler waters of comfort - beautiful home, money to spend, our choice of foods, and whatever else gets our focus off Christ. If we do not have enough money for those kinds of comforts, he will tempt us with things like fishing on Sundays, or any thing else to distract our attention on focusing on Jesus and His way for our life. The minute we start enjoying our comfort zones, he has us hop on to a "habit" of repeating our old ways - a ways from the Lord's way. We would to sleep, spiritually, but gradually.
That is when lukewarm waters hit! If we let down on some of our convictions, it becomes easier for us to compromise our beliefs and commitment to God. After a while, excuses move in, and we may do less daily Bible reading, praying, and/or church attending. Soon sins become categorized as "definite-never-do sins," "not-too-bad sins," "everybody-else-is-doing-it sins," "only occasional sins," "they-really-didn't-mean-anything sins," "I-only-done-that-one-once sins," and "that's-what-is-done-in-our-culture-today sins." Some people treat sins like special guests or dessert. They smile or ignore them, pat them on the back, candy coat them, or water them down in an attempt to appear that they only barely exist. The next thing we know, the lukewarm Christians are hopping around on Confusion street, where it is cold and dark all around them. They hunger for peace, warmth, love and acceptance from God and others. The comfortable "lukewarm" spiritual condition takes place gradually, not identifying all the compromises it takes on.
How can you know if you are a "lukewarm" Christian? Are you spiritually "cold," not wanting any thing to do with God, unconcerned about yourself or lost souls? Or are you spiritually "hot," putting God first, growing closer and closer to Christ, actively witnessing to the lost, and never failing to do God's will in your life? If you can't categorize yourself as totally "cold" or "hot," then you are "lukewarm."
Like Mr. Hoppy, lukewarm Christians fall asleep, spiritually, not realizing all the changes they have gradually been through. If they continue to sleep, spiritually, they might end up like Mr. Hoppy - dead (only spiritually), and in eternal flames of Hell.
Mr. Hoppy found his last hop landed him on Miss Cook's supper menu. Let's not let our last hop land us in the devil's territory, with others he has "devoured" as the "roaring lion." Let's stay ON FIRE for Christ. If we are NOT on fire for Christ now, let us move closer to Him, and get that way again. I believe Mr. Hoppy Frog would tell us, "Hop to it!"
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