The Mouse

It has been a long time ago, but I remember it as if it happened yesterday. Mary and I along with some good friends were eating at one of our more favorite restaurants in Corpus Christi. We had been served our drinks and our salads and bread and we were enjoying some good conversation. I think we had gotten a babysitter for the evening so we were actually having adult conversation. Things were going along just wonderfully when out of the corner of our eye we saw a mouse run under a table. Amazing to me everyone at the table kept their cool and stayed calm. We discreetly call the waiter over to our table and told him about the mouse. What happened next was also amazing to me.
In a few moments the waiter walked by the table where the mouse was sitting and using a cloth napkin just reached down and scooped up the mouse and kept on walking as if nothing had happened and as if the whole thing were no big deal. Then it hit all of us sitting at the table.... that waiter had done this before. He had scooped up a mouse using a cloth napkin not just once or twice before, no; he had done that little scoop and run many, many times before. If it had been an Olympic event he would have scored a perfect 10. To no one’s surprise that restaurant has long since shut down.
So what does a mouse have to do with life? Well, that mouse is a lot like the sin we have in our life. The first time you cheat or lie you are burdened with guilt and you can wait to confess your sin and ask forgiveness from those whom you have hurt. That is the way guilt is suppose to work. Guilt should bring about a change in behavior, but if you continue to lie and cheat or do whatever your sin happens to be then the guilt becomes easier to ignore. Before long your sinful behavior will just be a part of your life and everything will seem normal to you.
Guess what? No matter how long you live in your sin and no matter how much your life seems normal to you, it is still sin and it is still wrong in the eyes of God. You see, that mouse was not just a mouse. It was an indication that something was terribly wrong with the management. A manager or owner who really cared about health codes and customer satisfaction would have taken steps to rid the building of mice instead of teaching the staff how to cover up the problem. In the same way that there is no such thing as one mouse, it is also true that there is no such thing as one sin in your life.
The good news is the mouse problem can be taken care of. The Great News is the sin in your life is already taken care of by Jesus Christ. You and I just need to live like people who have been saved rather than live like those who still have a mouse in their house.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8

Love God. Go Love Others.