the man who loved his snake
The story goes that there was a man who owned a pet snake.
It was kind of the passion of his life. He loved this animal. And his deeply held conviction was simple: if you love the snake, the snake will love you back.
So he slept with it. Every night. In his bed.
Years went by.
And then one night, while he was sleeping, the snake killed him.
An expert later explained what actually happened. The snake was never his friend. It was never returning the affection. It was simply waiting until it was big enough that it was sure it could kill him.
big enough to kill
That’s your investment account.
That’s the application from a friend of mine -- also a financial advisor -- who uses the story to illustrate the dangers of wealth.
Think about it.
When you start off, it’s innocuous. You put 10% of your paycheck into a 401(k). Year after year. It’s just what responsible people do. You barely think about it.
And then one day you’re 55 or 60 and you look up and there’s a number on the screen that would have been unimaginable to your 25-year-old self.
And now ...the snake is big enough to kill you.
Have you ever stopped to consider whether your wealth is serving you... or slowly becoming your master?
the warnings are real
Jesus was remarkably blunt about money. He didn’t dance around it.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)
Paul echoed the warning: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
Pierced themselves. That language is violent on purpose.
And the Gospels give us a devastating side-by-side. In Matthew 19, a rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell his possessions and give to the poor. The man walked away sad, because he had great wealth. The snake was already big enough.
But in Luke 19, there’s Zacchaeus. Wealthy. Corrupt. And yet when Jesus enters his life, he stands up and gives away more than half of everything he had. Voluntarily. Joyfully.
Same Jesus. Same invitation. Two completely different responses.
This is where the snake metaphor breaks down a little bit. Why did the rich man succumb to the death blow of his wealth while Zacchaeus somehow escaped the coils of the snake as it attempted to tighten around him? We’ll explore that tension further in next week’s newsletter.
How would you describe your relationship with money right now -- and is that the relationship you actually want? Would it change if you believed it was never really yours to begin with?
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