MURDER, SHE WROTE

Cute little guy, isn’t he? Happy face, bright smile, dainty little feet?  He told me his name is Gerard.  Yeah, he looks cute, but I must confess that I have a great ... unlove ... for buggers, for just about anything remotely resembling crawling-creeping-many-eyed creatures. My husband’s particular un-love is something called “bore-bees” because they bore into deck wood, thus causing said deck to implode like a bad soufflé. And being the manly man that he is (much like Rambo), he’s highly protective of his deck, charging after them with a can of spray in one hand and his tennis racket of death in the other, sending them sailing to smithereens.

I know ... ecology, food chain, global stuff ... sorry, just play with me here. I enjoy griping about bugs, and I enjoy setting them “free.”  Sorry, bug-huggers, I do. If they infiltrate my castle, they’re buggy-toast. I zero in on them with a shoe, or a fireplace shovel, or a rock-hard stale pop tart, if necessary. BAMMO, off to buggy heaven they go, thus rendering my abode creepy-free. (But never fear, Gerard still lives outside, free to hop to his heart's delight.)

There really is a point here, more than just mindless joyful destruction of critters who probably really do have a reason to live … outside my house. As He’s prone to do, the Lord has caused me to consider this:

What if I expended as much energy, creativity, and single-mindedness to sin-murder as I do in bug-murder?

What if I actually walk with the Spirit, live in such a way, that I’m putting to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13)?

What if I consider the members of my earthly body as dead to [everything] that amounts to idolatry (Colossians 3:5)?

Just as bugs are seldom as cute as the little guy above, so are my sins not cuddly and adorable. They're nightmarishly hideous and deserve to be thoroughly slaughtered.

My Father, once again, You have graciously lobbed your Word at my heart with the same tenaciousness that I should exhibit towards my own residual creeping sin. And even more, I’m thankful every day that You, my Jesus, were my personal sin-bearer (1 Peter 2:24), reconciling me to my God (Romans 5:10) for eternity.  And the reason for murdering my sin daily, taking up my cross and following You, my Jesus (Matthew 16:24), is to be a fruit-producing, light-bearing ambassador for You, drawing others to You. Just as I want my home to be creepy-bug-free, so should I desire my life for You to be creepy-sin-free.  I praise You, my Father, for Your divine power to live as You would have me do, honoring You (2 Peter 1:3-4).  You truly are a compassionate God.