“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 NIV

Mouse in the House

Do not be overcome with mice, but overcome mice with mousetraps.

Shortly after moving into this house, rats got in through a broken pipe. I’ll spare you the horror of how we destroyed them.

Last week, we saw a mouse in our house. My husband spent an afternoon chasing it until he finally caught it. We later discovered that it had brought a family along. We set traps, cleaned out places we thought they could be, waited. For several days, I was panicky and paranoid. I was reduced to the memory of the rat trauma and couldn’t believe that this was happening again, although on a smaller scale—smaller because mice are not as bad as rats. Both are evil, but rats are determinedly evil.  Mice are accidentally evil. But all evil is evil.

This morning, I saw the mouse. As I stood there waiting for my husband to catch it, I was surprised to see that this little fella was actually cute. THIS is what had brought such fear? This was obviously not a rat. This was just a bitty baby mouse. I couldn’t bear the thought of killing it. And yet I know that humans and mice cannot coexist.  Baby mice spread disease and messes. Then they grow up, reproduce, and invade your house. So we could not make a pet of it, in our hearts or in our home. We had to get rid of even this cute baby mouse.

It is easy to classify certain sins as big, bad, and ugly, while excusing seemingly smaller sins as less harmful, and maybe even cute. Depending on what is popular in modern culture, we can accept things the Bible clearly calls “sin,” blinding ourselves to the damage it wields.

Do you have any “pet” sins? (Examples might be: codependency, overspending, or gossiping.) If so, let me remind you that any sin we let become a pet will only bring filth, chaos, and disorder to God’s house. I am not talking about the church building.  I’m talking about your body, your mind, and your heart.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV). Every sin defiles His temple, is not cute, and should never be babied. These sins need to be vigorously destroyed. Safeguards may need to be set in place to keep them away.

Each heart knows its own struggle. It’s time to start cleaning house.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that the blood of Jesus so perfectly cleanses us from all sin. Please continue to cleanse us from and forgive us for any sin we have let become pets in Your temple. Please purify every corner or sneaky crevice where sin has been hiding. Thank you, Jesus. In Your all-powerful Name, Amen.