Volume 28, No. 44                          
November 23, 2003                   

A Gnawing Concern

   In the realm of wily rodents, the rat is the big cheese!

   Though generally despised by humans, rats are amazing creatures.  They can wriggle through a hole no bigger than a quarter thanks to their soft, almost collapsible bodies.  Skull size is the only thing that stops rats from entering small holes or cracks, so they’ll often burrow or chew to make small holes large enough to get through.

   When faced with a brick wall, they can climb it as if it had rungs.  Rats are able to swim a half mile and tread water for three days. With their razor-sharp teeth, they routinely gnaw through lead pipes and cinder blocks.  They’ve been known to fall five storeys and scurry away unharmed, and they multiply so fast a pair can have as many as 15,000 descendants in just a year!

   More than just a pest, rats often carry disease and they do incredible damage.  Experts say the only way to control them is to practise a three-part protection plan:  evaluate the reasons rodents are around;  eliminate the routes they use, then exterminate the rats themselves.  That same plan is the only way to control the sin in our lives;  sin that seems as powerful and persistent as the most determined rodent.

   We all know sin is part of our human nature.  “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what’s right, I inevitably do what’s wrong,” the apostle Paul moans.  “I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there’s another law at work within me that’s at war with my mind.” (Rom. 7:21,22)  Much of that inner conflict stems from deep-seated needs that go unmet.  Our evil actions are often just a symptom of a deeper pain;  one that must be recognized before it can be remedied.  Just as rats disappear when we take away what they feed on — bird feed, pet food and garbage — sin starves once we probe beneath the obvious and identify the emotional fuel that feeds the hunger in our heart.  “You desire honesty from the heart,” a repentant David tells God, “so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost being.” (Psalm 51:6)  Do the work.  Delve into the void.

   That will mean looking in the darkest part of your inner being.  Sins, like rats, avoid the light.  They thrive in hearts filled with clutter and debris.  They can be dislodged only when we submit our messy, jumbled souls to a thorough cleaning that eliminates what should’ve been thrown out long ago.  “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we must cry.  “Renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm. 51:10)

   Our ever-faithful Father will do that, but the sins will re-emerge unless we seal off the routes they use to wriggle back into our lives.  No matter how seemingly small the holes or cracks in our faith, they must be filled or sin will gnaw away at our resolve until there’s enough space to access the soul.  Protection will depend on avoiding the emotions and circumstances that make us most vulnerable, changing harmful routines and relationships, and rechanneling our energies elsewhere.  Otherwise, sin can multiply out of control.

   It’s not enough just to keep evil at bay.  Like the irrepressible rats, sin shows amazing patience and persistence.  It can surmount our barriers and survive our efforts to wait it out.  Even when we drop sin, it skitters away unscathed.  The only solution is annihilation.

   If you trap and move a disease-ridden rodent, all you do is spread the problem elsewhere.  That’s why poison is the weapon of choice in the fight to vanquish dangerous vermin.  When it comes to sin, we must be no less uncompromising.  Don’t accommodate it.  Don’t try to contain it.  Just kill it.              

   How?  Call in the Exterminator, recognizing that Jesus is the only one who can handle the threat safely and effectively.  Ask him to protect your heart with the sin-poison of praise, gratitude, joy and inner  peace.  Let him fill your life and perfect your love.  It’s the only way to stop sin from gnawing away at your faith.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca