PET ALLIGATORS?

Last week, I took some time off and went kayaking on a lake on the installation. As I finished paddling and pulled my kayak up on the shore, I noticed that a rather large (about 10 feet) alligator had evidently been following me along my route, staying just outside my vision but there none the less. I watched as he left me and started cruising past the fishermen and picnickers and begging for food from them. Usually, we catch and relocate nuisance alligators, but given his size and location, we decided to have him permanently removed by the Department of Natural Resources.

Several years ago, I had a similar problem with a large alligator but I handled it differently. This alligator was blocking a road that was being constructed through a swamp. We captured the alligator and released it in another location on the base. About one week later, I get a call. There's an alligator underneath a car in a parking lot near the General's house. I go there, and, lo and behold, it's the same alligator! So, we catch him again, relocate him to another location and turn him loose. A couple of weeks later, another call, and the same alligator has reared his ugly head once again. This time we took steps to permanently remove him to prevent him from continuing to be a danger.

As I reflected on my incidents with alligators, it has occurred to me that we sometimes keep pet alligators in our lives, in our spiritual lives, I mean. We all have pet sins and temptations that we just really don't want to give up. Sure, we go to God and we confess our sins and we lay them down at the foot of the cross, but then we pick them back up and carry them with us when we get off our knees. You see, we don't like the sin, but we really don't want to get rid of it. And just like a nuisance alligator, this temptation or sin may be following you, just out of your vision, waiting for a weak moment or a tasty morsel and then it attacks.

Just like it is foolish to keep pet alligators around, it is foolish to keep pet sins around. The only cure is the blood of Christ. We have to make the decision in our lives to get rid of our pet sins once and for all and not to put them away temporarily, knowing that they might just come back again "at an opportune time." Christ died on the cross to forgive our sins and to destroy the power of sin in our lives. Trust that He can remove the power of pet sins and alligators, and allow Him to take the sin away from you once and for all. Don't pick it back up and carry it with you away from the cross. Do whatever you must to permanently remove it from your life.