I doubt very seriously if Christopher Columbus would have set off for the new world in 1492 aboard the Santa Maria if the ship had shown evidence of termites.
That would have been crazy.
How could he and his crew have any certainty of returning home in the future if the ship were growing weaker, one bug bite at a time?
Storms and rocky reefs might put a tremendous strain on the wooden fibers of the hull, mast and boom and the last thing the crew needed to deal with would be splintering wood laced with termite tunnels.
No, the wood had to be healthy for the trip to the new world and that meant “No Termites Allowed.” Everybody would agree with the above, I’m sure. So why do we struggle so much with keeping spiritual termites out of our hearts and minds?
Why do we so often allow the soul-munching bugs of sin and doubt to gnaw their way into our spirit?
It’s crazy.
Satan tells the believers among us that a little bit of termite infestation won’t hurt the ship of our soul.
And we too often believe him.
The result is that we keep drinking booze when there’s no evidence that it helps us to better serve the Lord.
We keep gambling when there’s plenty of evidence that buying lottery tickets or slot machine tokens is poor stewardship and ends up stealing from our desire to give generously to those in need rather than to those in greed.
We keep listening to off-color jokes or stories that make us laugh, but also makes God frown.
We keep watching TV shows and movies that we’d NEVER watch in church.
And some of us keep looking at websites that show things that should have stayed behind closed doors, not ours but instead the doors of the exhibitionists who were paid to engage in voyeur-demanded immorality.
If you take part in gossip — even tacitly by not confronting it — you are inviting termites onto your ship to the new world. Just as the behaviors above do.
Search closely the vessel of your heart/soul. If you see any termites of sin, repent of them and ask God to guide you as you re-invent that weaker part of your spirit.
God will help you because He REALLY wants to see you sail into the new world of heaven.
That’s why He hates termites of sin and wants you to hate them, too.
He said as much through the lips of Moses who said the following to the children of Israel before the entered the Promised Land:
“For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.” (Deuteronomy 29:16-18)
Lose the termites, my friend. A holy, new world will be yours if you do.
As always, I love you
Martin
