He is a little animal God created way back in Genesis chapter 1. He is a considered a mammal and can weigh as little as 2 pounds but as much as 36 pounds. (Different species!)

His long claws are virtually excavation tools. With amazing speed he can “cover himself” in dirt, hiding from a predator! In fact, they build their “homes” (called “dens”) underground! Around 10 feet deep and with “rooms” (for sleeping, for rearing their young, etc.) connected by tunnels and spread out over 30 feet or more!

The badger is such a fierce fighter he will even take on a rattlesnake! And usually wins, being quicker and smarter. (He goes for the back of the snake’s head!) They have even killed dogs twice their size!

Furthermore, he can run extremely fast, backward or forward, at practically the same speed either way!

His digging ability, once his sense of smell locates an underground meal (rat, snake, whatever) is so keen that he accurately rips open the earth and enjoys a bit of nourishment!

Yet with all these positive traits, the badger is sneaky! When in grave danger with no means of escape, he often pretends to be “dead!” He even stops breathing during his little act! Then when approached by the “enemy,” the little follow springs to life with sharp claws pawing in every direction! Poor predator!

You might say he is a “great pretender!”

And that trait reminds me of a few professing Christians in our lax land today! “Pretenders, hypocrites!”

Acting like something they are not!

Jesus’ fiercest Sermon was directed against that crowd!

Seven times in Matthew chapter 23 our dear Lord uses that term in the plural … “hypocrites!”

He calls the religious charlatans of His Day “blind guides, fools, extortioners, stinking gravesites, and even vipers (deadly snakes)!”

What a warning to us all.

James 5:12, in an unusual way, exhorts us to be genuine, to be non-hypocritical. “But let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”

And Paul in Philippians 1:10 taught us to be “sincere!” Do not be a spiritual fake!

Badgers are amazing little creatures. And as we have seen they are endowed with some interesting and positive character traits.

But play-acting is not one of them!

Folks, BE REAL … for Jesus’ sake! We do bear His Name in this dark and sinful world!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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