My condo is set at the base of a hill and because of this, we often see all kinds of different critters including many lizards, mice, and a lone king snake. Unbeknownst to us, one of these mice snuck into the house and we were uncertain how it managed to until the pest control came to help out. While we waited for the pest control to arrive, we set out a few traps along the base of the walls to hopefully catch this mouse. Instead of a victory over the rascally rodent, we witnessed how the mouse actually stepped in the traps and escaped multiple times (These were the “good” traps too). Spiders were rendered helpless, a couple cockroaches were incapacitated, but this mouse was a little Houdini (Mousedini maybe?). We decided to name him or her “Ol’ Crafty” for his or her ability to escape glue traps.
Eventually, the pest control gentlemen arrived and they came inside to scope out the issues. These two gentlemen walked in and their first remark was complimenting my wife on how well-kept the house was. They began to seek for the typical areas that mice can sneak in and found no exterior holes within the house and surmised that Ol’ Crafty had more than likely snuck in through a miniscule hole in the screen door. The gentleman said something that stuck with me, “A dime for a mouse and a quarter for a rat.” These rodents are able to squeeze through infinitesimal areas of, according to the U.S. mint, “.705 inches” for a dime and “.955 inches” for a quarter. Next time you hold one of these coins, consider how tiny that truly is.
Consider the words of God to Cain in Genesis 4:7, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Our flesh has a disposition to sin because of our fallen natures but we as Christians are given the ability to resist and overcome sin and temptation by the mercies, grace, and power of God through our new lives in Christ (Romans 6:8-12). Yet, in our war against sin and evil, we become cocky and prideful. We scoff at the persistence of the old nature and say, “You cannot find foothold in me, my defenses are impenetrable!” We look at the doorway to our hearts and believe all areas are covered and that sin cannot find its way inside to do damage or harm to us. However, we willfully ignore these tiny and unfilled cracks in the defenses where sin will sneak through. The desire to sin is crafty and will seek to destroy us. We as Christians must be diligent to fill in these cracks and guard our inner selves for the glory of God.
“If you think you can fight your sin alone then you are already deceived by the craftiness of sin.”
There is no absence of Biblical calls, pleadings, exhortations, and commands to guard your heart and fight for purity and holiness. We all know about Ephesians 6:10-20 and utilizing the armor of God as our offense and defense against the forces that wage war against us. Yet do we truly understand the gravity and severity of sin? James assures us that sin inevitably brings death (James 1:13-15), Paul says that the wages, that is the payment, of sin is death. Yet we relish and delight in “tiny” sins but there is no such thing as a “tiny” sin. Sin, generally speaking, is the reason for suffering, it is the reason for death, it is the reason for loss of loved ones, loss of integrity, loss of all that we cherish, and above all it is the reason that our Lord and Savior went to the cross. It was our sin that resulted in a need for salvation and it is because of our Lord’s grace, mercy, and love that He willingly went to that cross. Though our sin nailed Him there, He did so willingly. Consider and meditate on the unfathomable depths of 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” We will never regret fighting our sin, but we will always regret succumbing to sin.
Christian, take heed of the Lord’s call to fight sin. Where are the cracks in your defenses? Are you aware of them? If so, what have you done to seal them to prevent the craftiness and deceit of sin to sneak through unawares. We can never let our guard down against sin, be diligent to seek and destroy the sin that remains in your lives. John Owen speaks well when he says, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”
Christian, do not fight your sin alone. If you think you can fight your sin alone, then you are already being deceived by the craftiness of sin. You need your fellow Christians to help, exhort, encourage, and pray (Hebrews 3:13). If we consider the context of the Armor of God, we should have in mind the image of a Roman soldier, standing side-by-side with his brothers-in-arms, fighting in a cohesive, single, and lethal force. Stand firm together against sin for relief is imminent and the day is coming when we will have final relief from all vestiges and aspects of sin in the presence of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. May you be encouraged by this wonderful vision of heaven in your fight against sin.
Theological Digressions 