24/12/2025
My mother told me a story of a village that was tired of being terrorized by a hyena. Every night the hyena ate a goat or sheep. The villagers decided enough was enough. They held a meeting and agreed to hunt and kill it.
On that day, the hyena came early. But instead of finding food, it was met by angry villagers. They no longer screamed in fear, this time they attacked with arrows and shouts. The hyena had gone for days without food, but that did not stop it from running for its life.
As it fled, it met a woman working in her garden. The hyena begged her to hide it. Moved by mercy, she hid it near where her baby was sleeping. Soon the villagers arrived, armed with arrows, asking if she had seen the hyena. They even explained how it had tormented them. Calmly, the woman denied seeing it and apologized for their suffering. She told them maybe it had taken a different route. The villagers believed her and continued their search.
When the hyena realized it was safe, it came out yawning. Hungry, it asked the woman for food. She said she had nothing except her baby’s food. The hyena ate it, but was not satisfied. It then took the baby and ate it too. The woman screamed, but no one came to help. When the hyena finished with the child, it turned on the woman and killed her.
Hours later, the villagers returned, tired from chasing the wind. To their shock, they found the woman dead, half-eaten.
This is how sin works in our lives. We hide it instead of killing it. What begins small, even enjoyable, later destroys us. God warns us to turn away from sin, but many times we protect it. In the end, it consumes us.
The Lord says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Repent, and you will be forgiven.
Amos Nyamu .
