We've Got Company!

For some time now I have noticed a blue tongue lizard that likes to sun himself near my garage door.  When approached from the outside with the door closed, he retreats through a gap into my garage.  Curious where he scurried off to, I observed a small depression in the concrete where he crouched close against the exterior wall.  Well, as long as he stays there it shouldn't be a problem, I thought.  Blue tongues eat snails, which we have outside our house in abundance.  Because of his small size and usefulness I saw little need to block off the gap.

But then I started thinking:  if a blue tongue lizard can easily crawl into my garage, there is nothing to keep destructive pests like mice and rats from sneaking in as well.  I decided to purchase some wood to fill the gap.  Yesterday by our freezer, I saw an large amount of fluid and solid waste - the size of a pinky finger.  Uh oh, I thought to myself.  That is unmistakably reptile droppings, and look at the size!  After cleaning up the mess, I starting looking around and to my great surprise I saw droppings in three or four places throughout the garage.  Some were so small that I hadn't recognised them as being waste at all.  I walked over to the area where the blue tongue enjoys sunning and saw him scramble into a hole in the garage wall!  It turns out he had not just been visiting his sunning spot, but that is actually where he lives.

Now I find myself in a quandary:  is there one lizard or more than one?  How do I know if the hole is vacant?  I wouldn't want to plug the gaps if he is inside.  At the rate the blue tongue is growing, it won't be long before he outgrows the hole and starts living in my golf bag or something!  As I thought about my predicament, I thought it was a great illustration of how sin can work its way into our lives.  Gaps in our defenses are easily exploited by sin.  Initially we might see our sins as small and nothing to worry about.  But before long the sin is taking over an entire room of our heart.  Had I stopped the gap and turned out the blue tongue immediately, I wouldn't have his poop all over my garage.  I am actually quite sympathetic towards the lizard, having allowed him to stay for so long.  We can also become sympathetic towards the sin we have been ignoring and allowing to remain due to our negligence.  Sin can become a part of us we are loath to part with.

We have to be confronted with the disgusting nature of sin before we will do a thing about it, and it took me cleaning up waste yesterday to impress upon me the importance of taking action and evicting our squatter.  While there is a benefit to hosting a harmless lizard, there is no benefit of cultivating sin.  It may appear to benefit us but it is deceptive.  Hebrews 3:12-13 reads, "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; ¹³ but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."  May our eyes be opened when sin has taken up residence in our hearts.  Once our eyes are open to the problem, may we take the next step to repent, confess it, and forsake it!