There is a very beautiful flower growing in the forests of South America. These are heat producing plants. Their temperature can rise up to 45*C, higher than the normal human temperature, even if the surrounding one is much lower. This plant’s ‘fever’ attracts the insects (especially the beetles) to come and pollinate the plant. The insects are rewarded with heat energy. Another reason for their heat is to prevent tissue damage in cold seasons.
These are poisonous plants. If consumed by humans, they produce painful swelling, stinging and burning effects to the mouth and throat. The patient cannot talk or eat for up to two weeks. These symptoms can lead to death.
Another characteristic about these flowers is that if they are cut off, they do not look beautiful again. They give off a very pungent and foul smell, often resembling a rotten, dead animal. That is why with all their beauty these flowers strangely are called ‘dead horse’.
The dead horse flower is a symbol of sin. It is very attractive from distance. It produces its own heat and attracts ‘followers’ to partake from its pleasures. But this is the truth: once a man sins, the very chemistry of his heart and mind changes. The sweet fragrance of Christ is changed into the smell of death. A backslider is always accompanied by the smell of death. All the seduction in the world cannot wash the disgrace of sin. The only solution is to come back to Christ in true humble repentance, for forgiveness and restoration. The God we serve is the God of the Living and not the God of the dead.
Sinner, forget the dead horse and come home!
‘For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord’ (Rom 6:23)