Agriculturally they are an important part of the way God designed our ecosystem. But from a human perspective they are a problem. They appear during the rainy seasons and are attracted to moisture and light, especially florescent light. They are so small (3-7mm) that they find their way into homes through cracks and screens, and are often on the ceilings. I was told they got the name 'Nairobi Eye' because they are found in Nairobi and when a person is sleeping and feels something on their face they brush it off, injuring the beetle in the process. They wake the next morning with burning in the eye and a red, swollen, sometimes severely damaged eye. There are even outbreaks of so called epidemics of patients suffering from skin burns. The rove beetle is actually found all over the world, but this one especially in tropical climates.
They are small, seemingly innocuous, but dangerous. It reminds me of something else in life like that. So called 'small sins' are like that. They work their ways into our lives, often because of some attraction. They don't make much noise, don't seem to cause any problem, but they are dangerous. If you let them remain, they will 'burn' you. Perhaps in a way that causes secondary issues and can even leave you with permanent scars. I probably don’t need to make a list of those ‘small sins’ as you know what they are. Small, but dangerous.
They great thing about the Nairobi eye beetle is you can prevent them from coming in your home, and there are means to destroy them when they come in. For most things in health, prevention is the best method. In the same way, for our spiritual health, preventing so called ‘small sins’ from entering our homes is the best method of staying healthy. Making sure we know what they look like, when their ‘season’ is, and how to prevent them is key. And then, if we discover that they have entered, we take measures to get rid of them. Neither Sally or I have any plans to live together with Nairobi Eye beetles in our house. They are too dangerous.
In the same way, we take both preventive and other measures, sometimes severe if necessary, to rid ourselves of sin. As I read God’s word there are no ‘small sins’ that we can let hang around and live with. God’s desire is that we ‘be holy, as I am holy.’ That means prevention and active measures to deal with sin in our lives. The awesome thing is that God has dealt with all the sin of humans on the cross of Calvary. Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection provide the only means of atoning for our sin penalty. His sacrifice was a perfect one that once and for all took care of the sin and death problem. We can rest assure of that. I love reading and re-reading Romans and the Gospels as they clearly spell that out. And when we place our faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice, God re-births us with a new spirit that can respond to Him, that has a desire to follow His perfect path of life, and finds satisfaction in Him. I would encourage you to read in the Bible in John 3 and Ezekiel 36:24-32 about this re-birth and new spirit that God wants to give you.
Just as Sally and I have taken all measures to protect ourselves from this small, but dangerous insect, our prayer is that you will take any measure necessary to deal with any small, but dangerous sins in your own lives. We’re doing all we can to prevent and aggressively deal with both bugs, and sins. Keep safe, and enjoy life.
Daily by His grace...
Thanks Larry.
ReplyDeleteAmen!!