5d • Devo
THE ITCH YOU SHOULDN'T SCRATCH
When complacency gives sin room to grow
Primary Scripture: Ephesians 4:26–27
"Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil."
I grew up in the country. I ran through the woods, climbed trees, walked through brush, and spent enough time outside that I knew poison ivy was something I needed to pay attention to. Somehow, through all those years, I only remember getting it once when I was younger.
Then I moved to the city.
I lived there for almost twenty years, and somewhere along the way I stopped thinking about poison ivy. I didn't intentionally decide that the lessons I learned growing up no longer mattered. I simply spent enough time in an environment where I didn't need those lessons that I stopped paying attention to them.
Then I found myself back in an environment where those lessons mattered.
And I got poison ivy.
The poison ivy hadn't changed. The consequences of touching it hadn't changed. I had changed. I had become complacent.
That got me thinking about how easily we can do the same thing spiritually.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS
1 Peter 5:8 tells us:
"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
I knew what poison ivy looked like. I knew it existed. I knew what could happen if I came into contact with it. None of that knowledge protected me when I stopped paying attention.
There are lessons God teaches us in one season of life that we cannot afford to forget simply because we enter another season where we don't think those lessons apply.
Maybe God brought you out of an addiction. Maybe He taught you to guard your anger. Maybe He showed you how pride was affecting your marriage. Maybe He exposed your need for approval, lust, bitterness, jealousy, greed, insecurity, or the constant need to compare yourself to somebody else.
Then things got better.
The temptation wasn't as strong. The environment changed. Life became comfortable. You grew spiritually.
And somewhere along the way, vigilance became complacency.
Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 10:12:
"Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
The danger isn't only that we don't know what sin looks like. Sometimes the danger is that we know exactly what it looks like and become convinced we no longer need to watch for it.
Salvation does not make us immune to temptation.
Maturity does not make us immune to temptation.
Years of following Jesus do not make us immune to temptation.
We don't graduate from needing Jesus.
THE FOOTHOLD
Paul says in Ephesians 4:27, "give no opportunity to the devil." Some translations render that as giving the devil a foothold.
That is where this begins.
Getting poison ivy wasn't the result of poison ivy suddenly becoming more powerful. I simply stopped watching for it.
Sin often works the same way.
We usually imagine spiritual destruction beginning with some enormous act of rebellion, but sometimes it begins much more quietly. We stop praying like we used to. We stop opening Scripture. We stop confessing something because we've decided it isn't that serious. We entertain a thought a little longer. We justify an attitude. We allow bitterness to sit. We return to something God already told us to leave behind.
We scratch an itch we know we shouldn't scratch.
And for a moment, scratching feels good.
That's part of what makes an itch so difficult to resist. Scratching gives immediate relief while potentially making the irritation worse.
Sin works the same way.
There is often an immediate payoff. Anger feels justified. Lust promises satisfaction. Gossip makes us feel included. Pride protects our ego. Avoidance keeps us comfortable. Bitterness lets us believe the other person still owes us something.
The immediate relief can hide the damage being done underneath.
James 1:14–15 describes the progression:
"But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."
Sin grows when it is fed.
The foothold is not where we surrender. It is where we respond.
CLEAN IT OFF
Here's something important about poison ivy.
The rash itself isn't contagious. The fluid from the blisters doesn't spread poison ivy. The problem is the urushiol oil from the plant. Until that oil is thoroughly removed, it can remain on skin, clothing, tools, shoes, and other surfaces and create additional exposure.
Think about that spiritually.
What touched you can remain on you if it isn't dealt with.
And what remains on you can begin affecting areas of your life that weren't part of the original encounter.
That is why confession and repentance cannot be things we save for when our lives are falling apart.
1 John 1:9 says:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God doesn't tell us to hide it.
He doesn't tell us to manage it ourselves until we're presentable enough to return.
He tells us to confess it.
Bring it into the light.
Let Him clean it.
David prayed in Psalm 51:2:
"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!"
And Isaiah gives us this incredible picture of God's grace:
Isaiah 1:18
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
That cleansing doesn't always eliminate the earthly consequences of what we've done. Forgiveness and consequences are not the same thing.
God can forgive immediately while healing takes time.
Relationships may still need rebuilding. Trust may need to be restored. Habits may need to be broken. Damage may need to be repaired.
The poison can be removed while the rash still needs time to heal.
Forgiveness can happen in a moment. Restoration may require a process.
FROM FOOTHOLD TO STRONGHOLD
But what happens when we don't deal with it?
What happens when we keep scratching?
What happens when we convince ourselves it isn't serious enough to bring before God?
A foothold can become something much harder to remove.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:4–5:
"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."
Notice where Paul immediately takes the battle.
Our thoughts.
Because eventually sin doesn't just affect what we do. It starts affecting what we believe.
The temptation becomes a pattern.
The pattern becomes a habit.
The habit begins shaping our thinking.
Then the lies begin.
"I'll never get past this."
"This is just who I am."
"God must be tired of forgiving me."
"I've already gone too far."
"I'll never be free."
"There's no point fighting anymore."
Now we're not simply battling the original temptation. We're battling the lies we've built around it.
That is a stronghold.
And strongholds are why Paul tells us to take every thought captive to obey Christ.
WHEN THE STRONGHOLD BECOMES A CHOKEHOLD
I use the word chokehold here as a picture because Jesus described something remarkably similar.
In the parable of the soils, Jesus said:
Luke 8:14
"And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature."
Look at the progression.
A foothold gives something room.
A stronghold allows it to become established.
And eventually, what we allowed into our lives begins choking out what God is trying to produce through us.
It affects our prayer.
Our marriages.
Our parenting.
Our friendships.
Our discipline.
Our willingness to serve.
Our confidence before God.
Our ability to hear truth without immediately filtering it through shame.
And sin rarely stays isolated.
1 Corinthians 5:6 warns that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump."
What I tolerate privately can eventually affect the people around me.
My bitterness affects how I treat my family.
My pride affects how I lead.
My lust affects how I see people.
My anger changes the atmosphere of my home.
My compromise can normalize compromise for someone watching me.
Something that began in one small area can spread far beyond where it started.
"WILL THIS EVER GO AWAY?"
Eventually poison ivy becomes exhausting.
You're tired of itching.
You're tired of treating it.
You're tired of thinking about it.
You're wondering when your skin will finally look normal again.
And sometimes the battle against sin reaches a similar place.
"How long am I going to fight this?"
"Why am I still struggling with this?"
"Why can't I just be done with it?"
"Maybe this is who I am."
That's another lie.
Because God tells a different story.
Romans 3:23 tells the truth about us:
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
But Scripture doesn't stop there.
Romans 5:8 says:
"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 6:23 tells us:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
And John 3:16 reminds us that God loved us enough to give His Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
The Gospel doesn't pretend the poison isn't real.
The Gospel tells us there is a cure we could never provide for ourselves.
Jesus paid for our sin.
Not some of it.
Not only the respectable sins.
Not only the sins we confessed quickly enough.
Christ paid the debt.
GO AND SIN NO MORE
When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, He did not pretend her sin didn't matter. He also refused to define her by it.
His response in John 8:11 was:
"Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
Grace and obedience meet in the same sentence.
Neither do I condemn you.
That's grace.
Go and sin no more.
That's the response to grace.
We don't confess because God needs us to convince Him to love us again.
We confess because sin has no business remaining hidden in the life of someone who belongs to Christ.
We return to the Father.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Not because Christ's sacrifice was insufficient, but because dependence on Him is the Christian life.
DON'T FORGET WHAT GOD ALREADY TAUGHT YOU
Getting poison ivy reminded me of something I already knew.
I just stopped paying attention to it.
And maybe that is the warning in all of this.
Don't forget the lessons of the past simply because you're standing somewhere you don't think they apply.
The enemy doesn't need you to renounce Jesus.
Sometimes he just needs you to stop paying attention.
Stop guarding your heart.
Stop examining your thoughts.
Stop praying.
Stop confessing.
Stop opening Scripture.
Stop surrounding yourself with people who will tell you the truth.
Stop watching where you're walking.
Complacency does the rest.
So pay attention to your surroundings.
Know what you're walking through.
Remember what God has already taught you.
And when you realize you've brushed against something you shouldn't have, don't wait for the rash to spread before you deal with it.
Confess it. Repent of it. Bring it into the light. Return to the Father.
Because a foothold does not have to become a stronghold.
A stronghold does not have to become a chokehold.
And the lie that says, "I'll never be free from this," has already been answered.
John 8:36
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
The question isn't whether you have ever brushed against sin.
We all have.
The question is:
What are you doing when you recognize it?
Are you scratching the itch?
Are you ignoring the exposure?
Are you convincing yourself that because you've been walking with Christ for a long time, you don't need to watch where you're walking anymore?
Or are you returning to the Father and allowing Him to expose, cleanse, correct, and restore what doesn't belong?
Don't wait until the foothold becomes a stronghold.
Pay attention. Take the thought captive. Confess the sin. Return to the Father. And keep walking with your eyes on Jesus.
1
1 comment
THE ITCH YOU SHOULDN'T SCRATCH
powered by
skool.com/warpath-deciples-5468
A place where Christian men stop making excuses, start keeping their word, and become the men God called them to be.
Suggested communities
Powered by