Mouse Vomit

Yes, the lovely mouse escapades continued.

After the sticky traps failed, I went out and purchased traps that would definitely trap the little guy (and kindly close the door behind him so I didn't have to see his lifeless body).  The morning after I set the trap, I knew it had been a success as I heard the little guy giving his final squeals.  When I returned from work to dispose of the trap, the little guy had done it again!  The little houdini somehow managed to get in and out of the circular snare without a trap.  How on earth?  This clearly was not your average mouse!

And then a thought occurred to me: the sounds that I heard in the morning didn't sound like they were coming from the floor where the trap I was currently examining was located.  No, the sounds seemed higher up, perhaps nearer the windowsill hidden by our counter, nearer to the original sticky trap.  No!  The little guy couldn't possible return to the peanut butter that first ensnared him.  After all of that struggle, surely he learned his lesson, right?

A quick glance over the counter proved otherwise!  Sure enough, the lifeless body lay fully sprawled on the glue of the trap.  My pity quickly turned to disdain.  What a stupid creature!  He knew full well the lure of the treat would only lead to death.  Only a stupid creature would so toy with its fate!

And as I stood judging the tiny guy, this verse came to mind.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly (Proverbs 26:11)

Instant conviction, hey.  For how often do I return to the same sin knowing it ultimately leads to death?  How often do I walk away from God into the lure knowing full well that it will only lead to pain and struggle?  How long do I, like this mouse, toy with temptation only to become ensnared?

Papa, forgive me for not following You.  For giving me for letting my eyes wander from Your truth to the lies of worldly enticements.  Forgive me for seeking momentary pleasure from that which I know will only lead me far from you.  You are my King.  Lead and guide me for Your name sake.  Where You lead, I will follow.  LORD, give me the strength and discipline to follow Your commands.

Failure

Attention everyone: I have an announcement to make: I, Sharon, am a failure.

Recently at my small group, we talked about our greatest fears (a fun topic, I know).  As I thought about the topic, my initial thought was that my greatest fear was failing God, of not living up to the life that He has for me.  And then I realized something.

I don't have to fear failing God.  The truth is, I fail Him every day.  Daily I fall short of His glory.  In that sense, I'm a failure.

But greater than my failure is His grace.  His grace alone covers me.  His grace alone is enough!  It's by His grace, not by anything of my own doing, that I'm covered, saved, redeemed, restored.

Praise God for His abundant grace!

Trapped

Recently my roommates and I have had the "joy" of a little mouse decide to make itself our pet.  As big as an animal lover as I am, I'm not a fan of sharing my food with the little guy or having my counters turned into a toilet.  Thus, we got some traps from our landlord and I got the "fun" duty of setting them for the fellow.

It didn't take long for the little guy to be drawn to the peanut butter and trapped by the sticky paper (note to self: sticky traps suck!  Go for the ones that put them out of their misery quick!); it also didn't take long for the little guy to start fighting the trap, wiggling and squirming and squealing with us his might just trying to get free.  To be honest, it was pretty awful to listen to (yup, I'm a softie); its suffering was hard to ignore.  The thing literally suffered and fought all through the night until it miraculously got itself free late the next morning.

As I cringed at its suffering (I may have had retreat to my room where I couldn't hear it), I realized that I had the perfect visual of sin in our lives.  Like this mouse, sin often looks like something appealing.  That sin will fill this longing in my heart or be the thing to make my life perfect or secure or happy; it will prove my worth or give me the satisfaction or confidence that I long for.  These are the lies of sin.  

And while the pleasure of sin is short lived, its consequences can be lasting.  You go for that "harmless" choice only to find yourself stuck in the goo of sinful patterns and painful consequences.  Was that bit of peanut butter, that bit of pleasure, really worth the fight you're in now?

But here's the thing; while we're powerless to overcome sin, we have an Advocate who has done just that.  Via His strength, we can be set free from the pull and pain of sin.  Who the Son sets free, is free indeed!  Like this little mouse, God has miraculously set us free from the wages of sin through the death of Christ Jesus.  Great is His faithfulness!

Serious business

As Christians, we all know that sin is serious business.  However, I feel like often our knowledge and belief don't align on this.  While we KNOW that sin is detrimental and ultimately leads to death (Romans 6:23; 1 John 5:17), but do we really believe it?  Yes, I KNOW that I shouldn't let my eye wonder to that thing that brings me pleasure but leads me away from God, but will one quick glance really hurt?  Yes, I KNOW that I need to set boundaries in my relationship and reserve certain aspects of it for marriage, but crossing this one little boundary just once isn't going to hurt anyone, right?  Yes, I KNOW that I really don't need to indulge in a third piece of pie, but what will it hurt?  Yes, I KNOW that I should be productive and tackle that project that I've been putting off, but one more hour on this game isn't going to effect anything, right?

I just finished reading through the book of Leviticus.  Believe you me, that book doesn't mess around when it comes to sin!  It's very clear on the consequences of sin and how its original audience was to respond to sin. Admittedly, I was a bit grossed out as I read through the details of the sacrifices.  After getting over that, though, I realized something.

Perhaps our culture doesn't take sin seriously enough.  No, I KNOW our culture doesn't take sin seriously enough.  It's become easy to justify our sin away, minimizing the things that we do wrong instead of fleeing from them.

What little thing have you been engaging in despite the Holy Spirit's warnings?