By Rick Moore
An attention getting picture with an enticing headline is often called click-bait. Here are a few of the most viewed click-bait statements on the internet: These Photos Will Make You Think Twice, Here Is What They Look Like Now, You Won’t Believe What She Said, and the list goes on. Choosing to fall for certain click-bait can lead to your computer being infected, and even worse, it can lead to an infection of your mind. No one ever plans to get hooked on bad things, but one click leads to another, and pretty soon, addiction sets in.
George was a ten year old who loved to fish. His family reunion was only a day away, and he was determined to catch a larger fish than anyone else in his family. He woke-up before the break of dawn to start digging for worms. George would shovel in the rich dirt along the banks of the water for night-crawlers. The lid to his mason jar had holes in it to preserve the worms he would catch. As he was just about to finish filling his jar and walk to his favorite fishing hole, he saw it. There it was, in the corner of his eye. It was the biggest, the longest, the juiciest worm he had ever seen. He scooped it up, placed it in the jar and said out loud, “This worm is going to catch me a big one!”
Now, let me tell you about Sammy. Sammy was a fish, and his family was also starting their family reunion that morning. Relatives from all over the lake swam to Sammy’s for the big day. Sammy noticed his grandfather had a big scar on his lip. His grandfather said it happened when he was a young fish just like Sammy. He was swimming around with his friends, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw it. It was the biggest, the longest, the juiciest worm he had ever seen. Grandpa said he swam up to it and gave it a nibble just to make sure it wasn’t a trick. He swam around it once, swam around it twice, and on the third time, bit down on the worm as hard as he could. When he did, he felt an awful pain in his mouth. He was hooked! He called for his friends to help, but they just swam away. He was being pulled to the top of the water, when he tugged as hard as he could. That is when the hook went right through his lip. Sammy said, “That’s horrible, but I’m glad it will never happen to me.”
Tired of hanging around old people, Sammy and his friends swam off to play. That is when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it. It was the biggest, the longest, the juiciest worm he had ever seen. Sammy wanted to make sure it wasn’t a trap. He swam around it once, swam around it twice, and on the third time, bit down on the worm as hard as he could. When he did, he felt an awful pain. He was hooked! He called for his friends to help, but they just swam away. His grandfather had just warned him moments ago, but he didn’t heed the warning. As Sammy was being pulled to the top of the water, he remembered how his grandfather was able to yank real hard and get off the hook, but Sammy was not as fortunate as his grandfather.
Back to George. That day he was smiling from ear to ear because George caught the biggest fish of them all. Before his father cleaned and fried it for lunch, George took a picture with the fish and named it Sammy. Sammy had ignored his grandfather and fallen for the bait. If only we…I mean he would have listened.
Rick Moore is Communications Pastor at Destiny Worship Center.
