Crocodile in the Shower
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. – Psalm 32:1 NKJV.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. – 1 Corinthians 11:28 NKJV.
Can you imagine going to take a shower in your home and finding a six or seven foot long crocodile? That is what Kalpesh Patel found in his home in India. Kalpesh says, “At first I didn’t even know if it was alive, I just stood there staring at it in my bathrobe and then suddenly I saw it blink, and I turned round and ran off as fast as I could, slamming the door behind me. I have no idea how it got into the house or even why it went there, but we weren’t prepared to let it out again.” He warned his family about the crocodile and had some neighbors come take a look confirming that he was not hallucinating and that the croc was real. They called the police, and some forestry officers captured the croc and took it away. Here is another reason why when you go to the bathroom at night you ought to turn on the light to see what is in there! (Orange News 08.01.14)
There is something on a spiritual level just as damaging, if not more so, than a crocodile can be to your physical body. What is that something? Unconfessed sin. Strange as it may sound, some of us are carrying around unconfessed sin that we are not even aware is there. King David is an example the Bible gives us. Even though, he had committed adultery and had arranged the murder of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba; he was able to ignore his responsibility before God until confronted by the Prophet Nathan. Here is a description of what it is like to know you have unconfessed sin and to fail to repent of it and confess it, “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer (Psalm 32:4).”
It is a strange spiritual fact that God knows us better than we know ourselves. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 139:1, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.” The Holy Spirit continually searches our hearts and knows the real us. We are given a word of warning against participating in the Lord’s Supper (Communion) with sin in our hearts. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:28 about this, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” In other words, if there is a crocodile of sin inside of your heart it would be unwise to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 a warning is given concerning those in the Old Testament who because of their sin were not pleasing to God. 1 Corinthians 10:12 then says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” If you do search your heart and find a crocodile in there please do not feed it with more sin. Instead, repent of it and confess it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9 NKJV).”
(Unconfessed sin can be very damaging to your spiritual health.)