I was shocked when I looked into our birdbath. There must have been 10,000 mosquito larva swimming and growing and ever so anxious to soon make my life an itching, scratching horror. They are so tiny and yet if in the right environment so lethal. Things don’t have to be big to be dangerous. Actually we do pretty good protecting ourselves from the big dangers. It’s the microbes, viruses and bacteria that can take us out. It’s the little guys.
This is much like sin. I’ve never robbed a bank nor have I murdered anyone. Those big ones I can deal with. It’s the tiny ones that I sometimes excuse for the very reason that they are tiny. Those feelings of pride and being better than another, those are the truly dangerous ones. Just this morning I referred to someone as being sub. I will not elaborate by telling you sub what. I cannot imagine Jesus ever thinking of someone as sub. The lepers were worthy of His care. The publicans (tax collectors for the hated Romans) were His dinner companions. Ladies of the night were treated with respect. The people He had the toughest time with were the smug. Smug is a nasty disease. Smug sneaks up on us and lives in us without our being aware. Smug alienates. Smug kills.
I used to be discouraged when I read in the Sermon on the Mount that I was to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Really? Then came the joy of learning that just as salvation itself is a gift so is the victory over all those “character infecting little guys”a gift. In Ephesians 2 Paul assures us that this whole process from A to Z is all Jesus. Such Good News.
Written by Roger Bothwell on May 19, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
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