Jack Kent wrote a children’s book called
There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon. The story
is about a little boy named Billy Bixbee, who
was surprised one morning when he woke
up to discover a dragon in his room. It was a
nice little dragon––about the size of a kitten.
It was friendly and even allowed Billy to pat
its head. Of course, Billy couldn’t wait to
tell someone about his new little friend, but
when he told his mother, she said, “There’s
no such thing as a dragon!” Soon the dragon
was downstairs, sitting on the kitchen table.
But Billy’s mother ignored it. She had already
said there was no such thing as a dragon.
How could she now tell a dragon to get off
the table? The story goes on to relate how
the dragon became a nuisance and grew
so large it eventually filled the house. But
everyone ignored it. Billy’s mother continued
to say, “There’s no such thing as a dragon.”
Soon the dragon’s head was sticking out the
front door and his tail out the back. He was
so large that when a bread truck drove by,
the hungry dragon chased it down the road,
carrying the Bixbee house on his back like a
snail shell.
In January 2018 an article in National
Geographic was published with the following
headline: “Why an 8-Foot Pet Python May
Have Killed Its Owner.” It goes on to tell
of how a man in England was killed by his
yellow African rock python named Tiny. At
one point this deadly serpent had been a cute
little snake. Its coils could have easily been
broken even by a child. But as it grew, fed
and nurtured by the man it would eventually
kill, no one realized the tragedy the man was
inviting.
People create their own monsters every day.
Most often these things that destroy people
start small. By the time they are taken
seriously, they have grown into formidable
predators that tear apart lives and families.
This is why Solomon warned us that it is “the
little foxes that spoil the vines” (Song of Sol.
2:15, NKJV). Jesus also warned us about
the small seeds of sin when He taught us
that monsters such as murder and adultery
begin their journey as little pets of anger and
lust. Ultimately these things that destroy us
begin within us. We give birth to them, feed
them, and nurture them, and they become
the dragons we battle.
The battle against the dragons in this world
begins with the human heart and mind. This
is where the battle starts, and this is where
the battle must be won. We can be very
passionate about changing the world, but
unless our own hearts are changed, we are
just fooling ourselves.
When I was a child, I worried about monsters
under the bed. When I became a man, I
realized the monster is me. There are no
literal, physical dragons in the world. But
there are many monsters in men. Jeremiah
17:9 says, “The human heart is the most
deceitful of all things, and desperately
wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
(NLT). Every evil in this world comes through
the hearts of men. Yes, unexplainable natural
disasters, diseases, and tragedies occur. But
these are not intentional, malevolent acts.
Those acts of true evil come only through
human agents.
Everyone battles a dragon at some point
in life, and some people battle many.
Sometimes the demonic zeitgeist produces
great evils that take millions of lives.
Abortion, racism, perversion, false religion,
persecution, corruption, and terrorism are a
few of the dragons my generation is battling.
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