*Note - these are not actual bugs in my kitchen. This picture is from Google Images!Well, various types of bugs, really. Most are dead now - a few survivors are still creeping around after an intense battle on Thursday night but I don't think they will last very long. My kitchen in my 1 bedroom apartment is about 8x8 and I have set out 8 plastic roach bait things and 6 roach tablets. Clearly, I wasn't playing around.
And then I got to thinking last night about the bug problem in my dwelling. It is so similar when we allow sin to enter and stay and in the dwelling of our hearts! Here's some application points I thought of while driving down I10:
- Sin, like bugs, is ugly and disgusting and rather difficult to be around.
- The problem started small - just maybe seeing a few bugs scurry around. Annoying, but I thought not too harmful. Then it started to grow. And I ignored it more - mainly because they were gross to deal with and everytime I touched something in the kitchen, I ran the risk of a bug crawling out. Our sin often starts as just a small thing, not too noticeable or effective. But then we ignore it, thinking it will go away, not really adressing where the issue is nesting. And then it becomes such a big problem, that we are afraid to touch it and just let it be.
- I tried to get my apartment people to help. They came 2 times to spray. Other people, while they can pour wisdom into your life cannot fix the problem for you. You have to take action and be vigilantly watching over your heart and guarding it, just like I needed to do a better job in protecting my kitchen.
- I tried a mild bug spray once to try to fix the problem. It failed miserably and in the process almost suffocated my dog. Our sin affects other people (or dogs in this case!) and can be destructive in their lives as well, not just our own.
- At one point earlier this week, I considered ways that I could just stay in my bedroom where there are almost no bugs so I wouldn't have to address the problem going on in the rest of my apartment. Sin tries to isolate and corner us. And it isn't possible to live like that, just like its not possible for me to never leave my bedroom. I have to go in other parts of the apartment. I want my apartment, just like my spirit, to be a place where myself and others feel welcomed, comfortable and refreshed. They can't do that if bugs/sin are crawling everywhere!
- Because the bugs were mainly everywhere in my kitchen, I couldn't cook at all and had little desire to go anywhere near the kitchen. This caused me to want to eat out every single night and then that took a toll on my desire to eat healthy. So basically, sin isn't an isolated occurrence. It can lead us into other sin. I was spending more money than I had budgeted for eating out and I was gaining a little weight because of that.
- I lived in fear of the bugs. They consumed my thoughts sometimes on ways to end their lives. Thats how sin is. It causes us to live in fear and it can consume our thoughts sometimes. Instead of being focused at work or enjoying time with family and friends, I was consumed with thinking about the bugs in my apartment and how to kill them.
- I avoided the situation at all costs. I knew it had to be fixed, but didn't want to deal with it. Thats how we approach sin a lot. We know its wrong and disgusting, but avoiding it just seems like the easier route rather than addressing it head on and ridding ourselves of the impurities that are indwelling.
- The battle for my kitchen was brutal. I spent $30 on cleaning and bug killing materials. I suited up with my purple rubber gloves, sprayed my entire kitchen down with bleach, set far too many roach baits and roach tablets out. And I stayed up til 11pm on a school night to fight this battle. Because I waited to address the issue, the battle was that much harder and cost me in my finances, my time and my energy. Sin is like that. The deeper it takes root and nests in our heart, the harder it is to get rid of and the more it costs us. I feel so much better now that my kitchen is clean, smells like bleach and I can see the carcasses of many bugs dying due to ingestion of whatever chemicals are in those baits and tablets. I am able to live in freedom (well, once the carcasses are cleared), enjoy my kitchen and my dwelling that much more. So much like sin. I can enjoy my dwelling in the presence of the Lord because my sin has been cleansed and removed and I no longer live in fear.
So I know thats an absolutely disgusting illustration, but really sin is disgusting. Think about how the Father sees our sin. So true. If only we would come to hate the things of sin as much as I hate the bugs in my kitchen.
Be blessed!
