“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” Galatians 5:9 NIV

Just a Little Bit

My grandson was asked by neighbors to go to a “hilarious” movie that was not appropriate for his age. He wanted to go because his two best friends were going and one was younger than my grandson. Then came the real pressure. It was their mom’s birthday, and she wanted him to come with them because he is “one of her sons.” Groan.

 I remember a story about a man and his son who were having a discussion about a “really great” movie the boy wanted to see with his friends. The dad said the movie was inappropriate for him. His son promptly argued that it was a really good movie, there was just a “little bit” of bad in it. The dad went out into the yard, and the son became hopeful that perhaps he was thinking it over. Soon he heard his dad in the kitchen baking brownies and grew more hopeful. When the brownies were done, the dad cut them and placed them on a beautiful serving platter. Boy, did they look good! The son’s eyes grew big as he grabbed one good-looking brownie.

“Thanks, Dad!”  “Sure son,” he replied. “By the way, there is just a little bit of dog poop in it.” The son put the brownie back on the plate, and never asked to go to the movie again.

You would not want a doctor saying after surgery, “We could have cut out ALL of the tumor, but left just a little bit.”

Just a little bit of sin is a slippery slope. It may have been only a little bite of the forbidden fruit, but it was wrong, and the consequences are very real. We think we can manage our sin, especially if it is just a little bit. We cannot manage sin. Sin will manage us; like just a little bit of yeast, it grows and grows.

We all make poor choices from time to time: food that we should not have eaten, money we should not have spent, words we should not have spoken. Perhaps the “I’m telling you this so we can pry, I mean PRAY” kind of gossip seems like just a little bit of sin. But that guilty regret (I wish I had….or I wish I hadn’t…) and a sick feeling in our stomachs remind us that these little sins are all like toothpaste that is squeezed out of the tube. You cannot put it back into the tube. We are very aware of the tap on our shoulder from the Holy Spirit reminding us that a little bit is too much, so don’t start! Paul encourages us to examine ourselves, test ourselves, and know ourselves.

“Father, as we enter the year 2019, may Your Holy Spirit remind us to examine ourselves daily, and Holy Spirit, please keep a short leash on us and give it a good hard yank when necessary.”