Sin’s Deceit (#174 of 365+)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24)


I don’t like snakes at all. I’ve been told they don’t feel slimy but I’ve never touched one nor would I ever want to. A few years ago I tried to coax a snake out of my mother’s house with a broom. When it recoiled I jerked and screamed and jumped up and down and ran away as though it was nipping at my heels. I thought I was going into convulsions! I had to call Animal Control. Their responder laid a trap of sticky paper all around a cabinet the snake had slithered behind. He told us to call him in a few hours, and then he left. Sure enough, within a few hours the snake tried to leave its hiding place and made the most horrible hissing sound when it got stuck to the paper. The Animal Control guy returned with his friend who wanted to keep the snake as a pet. My mother and I didn’t care as long as we were rid of it.

Whenever I tell that story people picture the snake was a rattlesnake or something larger with huge fangs and all that. When they ask me what species it was I have to confess it was only a little garter snake. But it was still a snake.

I honestly don’t understand why anyone would be fond of keeping any type of snake as a house pet. No matter how glorious that creature appears to someone with a different sense of aesthetics than I, it is still and it will always be a snake. I’ve heard and read plenty of news stories about pet snakes with names like Baby, Snookums, or Sugar that were gentle, domesticated, and even loving until one day, unexpectedly, out-of-the-blue… they either consumed a child or choked someone to death.

Today’s devotional is about pet sins, our favorite sins that we keep around like a boa constrictor in the house. It might seem harmless to gossip or tell a lie but the Bible lumps those sins—along with being disobedient to parents—in a list with being “God-haters” (Romans 1:29-30). Joni urged her readers to heed the truth, realize sin is deceitful, and toss it out of their lives once and for all. She said, “You and I may give wickedness smooth-sounding names, but we cannot alter its nature and character in the sight of God.”

Lord, show me the attitudes, thoughts, and actions that conflict with your will for my life. I love you and I don’t ever want to grieve your Holy Spirit. Help me to purge the sin that always tries to set up residence in my heart and in my mind. May my attitudes, thoughts, and actions today reflect your eternal grace and mercy. Amen.