Have you ever been so afraid of something that you went to great lengths to get away from it? This is the story of my mom with mice. She hates anything rodent, like rats and mice. My dad, in every house we have lived, has had to make it mouse proof.
I remember one particular time, when I was a kid, where my mom went crazy. Anybody watching her would have thought she was out of her mind. And, as far as her family goes, we were laughing.
My dad had gotten into one of our sheds. He pulled out a fairly large box, as I remember it. The box was properly about 3 to 4 feet tall. In the bottom of this box were a mother mouse and her babies. They were so cute. The box was empty except for them. The box must have been lying on its side in the shed because there were no holes chewed in the box to get in it. With the box standing upright they were contained inside.
When my mom realized there were mice in there, I don’t remember her even looking in at them, she began to scream and run away. When we looked up she had run probably 60’ away and was up on a step that probably stood around 1’ high. Of course we were laughing.
We kept watching the cute little mice and saying she should come and look at them. When we looked up again she was no longer on the step so we looked around to see where she was. And there she was perched at the top of the ladder that went to our slide. I don’t know how many feet up it was but definitely several times higher than the step.
We may hear this story and laugh and think that she is absolutely crazy. But what would life be like if we had the exact attitude toward sin? What if we were so afraid or repulsed by sin that we would flee to the highest level to get a way from it? Will people laugh and think that we are crazy? Will they make fun of us?
Gradually sin has become more and more acceptable, even to Christians. Who would have ever thought that, as a Christian, we would watch the things that we watch, read the things that we read, or listen to the things that we listen to today.
We did not have a television when I was growing up but when I went to my grandparents they had the television on all the time they were home, even if they had company. I remember being so frightened by what I seen and heard. When you are innocent it seems really bad. But then as an adult I started to watch the “good things.” At least I thought they were. But as time passed the “good” line started moving.
Then the Holy Spirit convicted me. Has it been easy? No. But doing right is never easy because it goes against our grain and against the majority, which often brings laughter and ridicule.
Often people wonder, “how do I know if it is good or bad?” This is the first and foremost question. And God’s Word has the answer. Does it fall into the commands of Christ?
There can be many factors but I am just going to address one of them with a question. In the TV shows or movies you watch how many things go on that should only be going on between married couples? It may be a true story but the actors are just actors they are not married to each other. You may think that I am being picky but for me I have to be. I want to be ready when Jesus comes and I have found that as I do these things the bad starts to not look so bad anymore.
I believe reading can come into the same category. What am I reading? Is it drawing me to Jesus or does it have things that would be condemned by God’s Word.
What about our music? Is it the same kind of music that is used to call the evil spirits to the worship of the devil, with Christian words? It is easy to start with something pretty mild but eventually the line moves because things don’t seem as bad as they use to, with time.
I am not here to condemn your choices I am just here to share my own experience. What I do want you to do is to pray and study God’s Word for your own conclusion. God will lead you.
Here are three steps to help you in your journey:
- Study God’s Word. I know that I keep emphasizing these points but they are the answer to all things.
- Spend time in prayer. As we pray the Lord will guide us in His Word to those things that will help us make the right decisions.
- Memorize, meditating on God’s Word day and night. Having God’s Word hidden in our heart is the only way we can conquer the temptations.
These things are like the box around the mice of sin. It is what protects us. When we are going through our day what needs to be coming to our mind is these three things. A lot of times we are having ungodly scenes, from a book we read, a movie we seen, or music we’ve listened to, coming to our mind, instead.
Dear Father,
Help us to realize our need of you. Help us to realize how dirty and filthy “mice” (sin) is. We need sin out of our lives. Continue to show us and guide us. Thank You for Your unfailing love for us.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
I want you to know that I love you all. I am just sharing what the Lord has convicted me to share. I just ask that you consider what I have shared here and study it for yourself. Whatever your decision is, I am not pointing fingers. We are all on a different journey. We are living so close to the end of time. We need to be sure to protect ourselves from the enemy.
Also remember not to let a hole get chewed in your box. Those holes can be so tricky and get larger with time.
Love you all!
What journey is the Lord leading you on? Please share!