Strangers in the House
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. – John 10:10a NKJV.
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. – James 1:12-15 NKJV.
Kim Ledford went on a lengthy vacation and finally returned to her home. Shock, would be a mild term for what Kim experienced after arriving at her home. She walked into her house, and discovered that there was a woman wearing her clothes, and an unknown man was in her bed. Another man confronted her, and asked why Kim was in his house! The police were able to find the truth, and arrested the strangers for burglary. Now these strange people have a new home called a jail.
Can you imagine the shock that Kim Ledford must have felt to have all of those strange people inside her home? It would have been even stranger though, if Kim had invited them to stay, and live there with her. Of course, Kim did not do that, she immediately called the police. However, many of us are not as smart, let me explain.
When we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live within our hearts and lives. Our physical body becomes the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Our body is the Holy Spirit’s house, that house has been swept out and made clean (2 Corinthians 5:17). What happens to that house when the strangers show up? Let me rephrase, what happens to that house, your house, when sin knocks on your door? Do you call out to the Lord for help? Or, do you invite those strangers of sin to come on in and stay a little while?
It sounds very strange, because we as Christians know that sin is deadly. We know that sin is as bad as giving a baby a rattlesnake to play with (Romans 6:23a), but too many times we tolerate sin. We tolerate certain levels of sin. We know that sometimes those shows on TV and the movies we watch are inappropriate, but we watch them anyway. We know some of those books that we read contain things that Christians should not read, but we read them anyway. We tell our little white lies, because we don’t want to hurt anyone. Some of us drink and smoke and may even use some illegal substances sometimes, but nobody is getting hurt are they? Some of us flirt and say things that are inappropriate, but it’s all in fun, right? Some of us… _____ (just fill in the blank).
The sad truth is that when we invite the strangers of sin into our lives, we are just asking for trouble. If we allow them to stay around, it will result in a downward slide with our growing more and more apart from where God would want us to be. If we allow those strangers to stay, the thief will have stolen our lives away, and we will never experience the abundant life that our Lord wants us to have. Ask the Lord to give you the strength to throw those strangers of sin out of the house.
(If strangers showed up at your house and refused to leave would you let them stay? Or, would you do something about it?)