I once made a joke to Dr. Smith that I’m pretty good at sinning. He then said “Naty, I never joke about sin.”
He killed that one.
Good.
Jesus didn’t think that was funny either.
This is how serious our Lord takes sin: “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Matthew 5:29
Jesus is okay with us taking shocking, extreme, painful, and practical measures against sin.
I heard a story about a mom who glanced out the window and saw her little ones playing in the back yard with a baby skunk. The startled mom yelled “Kids, run!” And they did. They grabbed the baby skunk, and ran.
We each have sins that we treat like that cute baby skunk. We think of these as harmless, too intimate to hurt others, too common for the church goer, too fun to let go of. We comfort ourselves with lies of the devil: ‘If this is my only vice, that’s okay.’, ‘The Bible is slightly outdated.’, ‘God loves me either way.’ , ‘It’s under control.’
Here are a few of the baby skunks held tight by the makeup of the modern church:
- single adults enjoying marriage privileges
- on-line bonding with someone other than your spouse
- the spectator of the Mega Church, or online church
- the guilty parent trapped in busyness making up with technological toys
- the cool parent saying ‘yes’ to ‘no-no’ things
- the modern Christian rethinking if to support or not the LGBT movement
- fallen preachers due to the celebrity syndrome.
- And more.
Would Jesus be comfortable visiting my church, my home, or my head?
What sin am I cuddling with that sooner, or later will backfire and stink up my life?
Let’s take some shocking, extreme, painful, and practical action right now.