A fly in the ointment…

I love my house! God has over-abundantly blessed my family with our dream home. I couldn’t ask for anything more and am supremely happy to come home to our house even after vacationing in a nice resort. We are so happy with our home.

There is one guest that has graced our home over the last four years that can stop me dead in my tracks. At first, she seemed to be a minor nuisance and we hoped that within a few days, our visitor would be a dried up relic to be sucked up from the window sill on an occasional basis. Much to my dismay, I now hate, absolutely loathe, detest, and abhor our little guest because somehow she always finds her way into our sealed trashcan to lay her eggs. Much to my horror, I wake up to find her wriggling, white babies with their tiny black heads inching their way into every crevice and hole in my beautiful home. You guessed it…maggots!!!

Oh, how I detest maggots! Not only for the unclean feel that they bring to my house, but because they are so difficult to get rid of. Short of tearing my house apart and moving every couch, table, chair and toy we own, no matter how long I vacuum or scour the house looking for them, I am never able to find them all. Then within a week, my house is covered with flies. They hover over food, pester us at dinner and while watching TV. At night they buzz, buzz, BUZZ EVERYWHERE! I HATE THEM!

This little house guest has graced our home once or twice a year and I have become an expert at killing flies. I have killed three at a time, killed them in midair and have impressed my kids with the accuracy and vehemence with which I attack them. Including screens on every window and door, including the garage (which is coming soon), I have considered double screens to keep the flies out. We have fly traps outside that smell like an animal has died in our trees. I have even tried fly traps in the house (those only make a sticky mess so don’t try it). The only way to keep this from happening is to dump the trashes more often than usual, keep food out of the trash and kill any fly immediately upon entry to my home.

My family has joined me in my quest to keep the flies out. If you have ever been at my house, you may have wondered why I almost screech when a screen door is left open for more than the second it takes to get outside and close it. If you have even woken up to maggots more than once, you would be as completely insane about keeping flies out as I am. Did I tell you how much I HATE flies? I was reading a passage the other day and it reminded me of my fly problem.

I Corinthians 5:6 say, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” This passage is referring to a “Christian” who knew better and yet was committing a terrible evil of incest with his mother. The Corinthian church was bragging that they were superior in knowledge of God while evil was going on right under their own noses. Paul rebukes them saying that a little evil could corrupt the whole church.

I wonder why I don’t have the same attitude toward sin that I do flies. Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” There is no doubt that sin is evil in God’s eyes and it is the one thing we are given permission to hate without question, yet I often disregard “little” sins as innocuous nuisances in my life that can be dealt with later. Pretty soon, my beautiful spirit is crawling with the maggots caused by one “small sin.” God wants me to become a hater of evil in my life. As much as it is fun to watch, my family should be more impressed with the tenacity and vehemence with which I attack sin in my life. They should be inspired by the extreme measures I take to get rid of little evils and wonder why I am so vigilant in my quest to pursue a “sin-free” rather than a “fly- free” life.