One cook claimed that the best way to cook lobster is to put the lobster in the pot before you heat up the water. “The meat’s more tender because they don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.” Not everyone would agree with his assessment. In fact, in some places it’s illegal to boil live lobster because it’s considered cruel and unusual punishment.
As terrifying as it might be, the image offers somber warning for us.
Don’t get caught in hot water.
We all know that to be in hot water means to be in trouble that will likely lead to some degree of severe punishment. Hopefully, we’ve learned to avoid the most obvious of painful traps as we’ve matured. We’ve drawn boundaries in our lives that keep us from jumping into pots of boiling water or other situations equally as dangerous.
But there’s another trap that is more deceptive. And that is getting ourselves into warm water that is not too unpleasant at first, maybe even comfortable. But often over time, the water slowly heats up. It may be a book or TV series that starts out innocently enough but gradually becomes more and more graphic and insidiously wicked in content. It’s easy to become so engrossed in the plot that you don’t realize how far it’s carried us away from your values. It might be a simple curiosity that leads you to follow a series of internet mouse clicks that leads you into increasing hot water. Living a life of self-absorbed comfort that is increasingly distanced from the suffering and needs of others is yet another pot of water that slowly heats up. We often become unaware of how our life is heating up, bubbling and churning when we continue to immerse ourselves in the habits of a sarcastic tongue, the silent treatment, belittling criticism, judgmental gossip, and apathy. Even the unproductive and negative patterns of our own minds can turn up the heat from helpful self-awareness to destructive thoughts that boil over in self-judgment.
What begins as a warm bath desensitizes us to the world around us. Not only that, we become lulled into a sleepy stupor that robs us of a full life. In all these situations and more, we are like the condemned lobster: we don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.
We are slaves to whatever we obey, captive to whatever we willingly choose to follow. (Romans 6:16). If we persist in choosing to remain in a harmful way of thinking and behaving we will end up in boiling hot water. We won’t see it coming. The longer we remain there, the less we will be aware of its disastrous effect on our life.
When we choose to abandon God and instead pursue living “my way” we get into hot water. But if the Lord is your shepherd, he will lead you beside cool, refreshing waters. He is in fact the fountain of living water we need. (Jeremiah 2:13)
Look at your surroundings. If you find yourself becoming too hot-tempered, overly anxious, fearful of “secrets,” or too comfortable, jump out of the cauldron of harmful thinking and behaving before it’s too late.
Don’t be the lobster.