Parasites

Moving from a suburb in upstate New York to a suburb in Western Wisconsin was really not much of a culture shock. The populations are the same, the weather is pretty much the same (trading colder weather for less snow), and the people talk the same (except for the pronunciation of "root"). So, of course, when I moved out here and a few weeks later noticed a little black speck on my husband, I assumed it was a spider.

It looked like a spider. It was dark, and had some number of legs, and seemed a little creepy. Must be a spider.

Except it wasn't. It was something that, to me, was much worse. Steve explained that they were called ticks. I had never heard of them. We didn't have ticks where I grew up, and believe me I crawled through many a forest as a child. Had there been ticks in my neighborhood, I would have found them.

So for those of you who haven't had the lovely tick experience yet, I'll give you a little hint. They are a lot like spiders, except they also stick their little heads into your skin and suck your blood. And to make matters worse, they are difficult to remove, and almost impossible to kill. Actually, your best bet at killing them with your bare hands (versus a lighter, a toilet, or tape) is if they have been feeding on you or your loved ones for a while. Then, they'll squish very easily. Might want to have a tissue on hand, though.

Now that I have thoroughly grossed out many of you, I'll get to my point.

It's been many years, and many ticks, since that first experience. I have gone from screaming for Steve when I see one, to volunteering to be the one to pull the pesky things off the kids. So today, when Kayanna told me that Aliegha had a tick on her back, I grabbed a roll of tape and headed to the rescue.

This tick really meant business. Normally I can remove them pretty easily, but this one was pretty cozy. I got most of it in the first swipe, but its head was definitely left behind. My fingers couldn't get it to budge.

Armed with a little knife, I went to work. It took about three minutes, but I was finally able to pry it out and declare Aliegha tick-free. It was important that I get the head out, because we are well schooled out here to know that while the head is in the skin, disease can still be transmitted. We must remove the entire parasite.

Sin is a lot like a tick. When it gets a hold of us, it isn't easy to remove. We might do a quick swipe at it by identifying what is causing it, but if we don't remove it by changing our actions, thoughts, or choices, we are susceptible to becoming diseased.

Just like some ticks can spread Lyme disease, sin spreads spiritual disease. The best way to protect ourselves is to make sure that once we identify an area of sin in our life, we do everything we can to kill it.

In the movie Fireproof, the main character who is played by Kirk Cameron is dealing with the sin of pornography. At first, he tries turning his computer off and busying himself with other things. Soon enough, he finds himself sitting in front of it again. So what does he do when he realizes that just a "quick swipe" isn't enough? He takes a baseball bat to his computer and throws the whole thing in the garbage. This may sound extreme, but we want to do whatever it takes to remove anything that is tempting us to sin.

"If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:29-31)

For me, one of the things I have struggled with is putting things above my family in priority. This has taken many forms, but I'll give you an example. I love to read. It is one of my favorite things to do. But I can't just read one page, or a chapter, of a fiction book. Once I'm hooked, I might as well be a carved statue instead of a mother. I don't hear what my children say, I don't clean the house, I don't cook supper. I just read. And not only was I hooked until the very final page, I'd find myself longing to escape into another one soon after. For a long time I went back and forth, but I finally decided that if I couldn't read a little, then I couldn't read at all. So now I just pick up a fiction book once a year or so, and I'll take it with me on vacation, or read through it quickly in a night. Because even though I love to read, I love my family more. And mama isn't pretty when she's in the middle of chapter eight.

Do you have something in your life that you've been swiping at, only to leave the head of it still buried underneath your skin? These two verses together have been helping me immensely as I continue to deal with stubborn sin:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NASB)

and

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB)

We are promised that we will be forgiven the sins of our past if we confess them to God. We are promised that He will not tempt us beyond what we can bear. Notice that He does not say that we will not be tempted at all. We will be tempted. But if we keep our eyes on Him, He will provide a way out for us so that we will not fall beneath its weight.

He gives us the perfect pair of tweezers to pluck the head of that sin right out of our skin. All we have to do is ask.