Comparing Head Lice to Sin

Well, this is certainly not the message I was originally going to write. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. And lets just say this message just sort of.....creeped up on me.

How many of you have ever encountered or were invaded by head lice? Maybe growing up you got them or you had to deal with a child that got it. For those of you who have, you know exactly what I am talking about when I say, "Man! Those little buggers are creepy!"

My daughter, as well as a couple of the neighbor girls, had the unfortunate experience of getting head lice. And when I found the first of the little nasties in my daughter's hair, I looked at it under a magnifying glass. That thing was hideous and it gave me the heebie-jeebies. It made me furious to know that it and it's little pals were crawling around in my prescious daughter's hair, multiplying and making themselves right at home in her beautiful curls.

I tried to call everyone I could think of that she had been around lately, warning them of the dreaded little bug and then sent my daughter to the shower, so I could comb through her hair more easily, which came up with quite a few more of those little demonic pests.

After treating her hair with the lice killing lotion, that would suffocate those nasties who dared to make their home on my daughter's head, those little buggers were gone. All that remains are a few little shriveled up nits that we have to search for and remove, making sure none of them might have survived the treatment.

We labored over cleaning EVERYTHING in our house: vaccuming, washing clothes, towels, blankets, pillows; bagging up stuffed animals, tossing out brushes and hair things--anything that could still have the lice on them, and vaccuming our cars until they smelled new and clean. Let's just say, I slept really well last night, just knowing how fresh and clean our house was, rid of the tiny little bug that set up to invade our happy home.

You know, sin is a lot like lice.

It just takes one little itty-bitty sin...such as a partial truth or a tiny white-lie (Still not sure why we call it a white-lie) to enter into our life and before you know it, you are invaded with sin. It turns into other sins and it makes a home in your heart, and then it spreads into the lives of those you love and encounter on a daily basis, hurting them in the process.

Like lice, sin does not like the light. When the light of Jesus shines upon it, sin will try to scurry and flee, it's comfortable where its at and it doesn't intend on leaving.

Like lice, when your sins are revealed, or you've been confronted with them, and you take a real close look at all those sins you've allowed to master you, they look really hideous. You suddenly feel ashamed or embarrassed that they've been found out, or that you allowed yourself to get that far with them.

If you are a believer in Jesus, then your conscience really starts to get to you, because you know you were wrong allowing those sins to have free reign in your life. They make you squirm and they bother you until you can't stand it anymore and you need to be rid of them.

Jesus is the only treatment for ridding you of sin. He is waiting and willing to be your "nit-picker" or should I say "sin-picker"? The first step of having a "clean house" is letting Him come in and clean sweep it. You sincerely apologize to Him and then let Him and His grace, mercy and forgiveness get you back on the right track. Sometimes it's a long process. You've got to confess to those you hurt and apologize. You have to be willing to follow His leading and right the wrongs you committed, before you can rest easy with a pure heart. Sometimes, it takes a lot of tears, heart break and bravery to do what you know is right. But Jesus is always there to help.

A perfect example of this happened the same night we discovered my daughter had lice. I was working the closing shift at my job, and a woman came in, and asked to speak to the pharmacist. When he went to the woman, I could hear parts of their conversation. She told the pharmacist her name and said that she was the woman who had been calling in fake prescriptions to different pharmacies for a popular controlled medication. I could tell she was trying to keep her composure, but I could hear the shame in her voice. She told the pharmacist that she was a Christian and that she knew that what she had been doing was wrong. She wanted to say she was sorry and understood if he needed to take down her name.

The pharmacist basically told her thank you for apologizing and hoped that she learned her lesson and hoped that she would no longer do it.

After hearing her confession, I was amazed because every once in awhile we get fake prescriptions called in by people claiming to be a nurse or people bringing prescriptions in that they had written themselves on a stolen doctor prescription pad, and that woman was the only one I have ever known to come and apologize after she had been found out.

I was hoping for a chance to say an encouraging word to her, but she left and went shopping. Fortunately, just before she left out the door, I was able to catch her eye and wave her over. She came back to me and said humbly, "I remember you were here that day I came in."

Honestly, I have no idea what day that was that she was thinking of, I just recognized her name and new what she had been doing. I think maybe I was there the day she might have tried to pick up her fake prescription, but I have no idea if that was the case.

Looking her in the eye, I leaned over the counter and said softly, "You know most of us back here in this pharmacy are Christians. I want you to know that none of us are perfect, we all mistakes."

"But that's not my heart," she said, starting to cry.

"I know, and I really admire how you came in here to apologize, and I know God admires you even more. It's how we choose to learn from our mistakes that make us better. A lot of us have to learn the hard way. You're forgiven, now you need to turn back to God."

She nodded her head and wiped her tears, thanked me and said good-bye. I wish now I would have been able to say more. Because I thought of King David and how he was an adulterer and then had his lover's husband murdered. Yet, because of His fierce love for God, because he repented of his sins, and worshipped God whole-heartedly, God said of David that "he is a man after God's own heart."

But the lesson here is that when the woman's sins were found out, she saw them for what they were and knew she was wrong. She took the first steps in following Jesus on ridding her "house" of her sins. She was brave and confessed not by phone, or email, or in a letter--she went to those she had wronged--and confessed face-to-face, knowing there could be serious consequences.

I will be praying that there will come a day very soon when she can rest easy because she's letting the Lord deal with her sins. He's picking them out one by one, and terminating them for her as she repents of each one.

If you find yourself struggling with sin, here are some verses to help you out in your treatment to get rid of them:

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claimed we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives." 1 John 1:9

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it DESIRES to HAVE you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:7
(this verse is regarding Cain, just before he chose not to master it and killed his brother Able. The consequences were not good.)

"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but ONE sinner destroys much good." Ecclesiastes 9:18

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." Galatians 6:1

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." 2 Corinthians 7:10

"To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, "if you hold to My teaching, you are really my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." Acts 3:19

There are a couple of others, but since they are a bit long, you can look them up on your own time and chew them like cud: Hebrews 12:1-3, 1 John 1:5-10, Romans 6:18-19, Romans 10:9-10, and Ezekial 33:10-20

I hope you all have a wonderful day, sin free, and I'm sorry if what I wrote made your head itch!

Love in Christ Jesus,
Alyssa