Thin Threads

My Old Testament professor said something today that struck a deep chord in me: "The tie of habit is a thread so thin it cannot be felt, until it is a chain so thick it cannot be broken."

Satan does not want us to see our sin for what it is.  Instead, he would rather us view it in one of two ways.  If we see our sin as the thread, it seems small and irrelevant.  It's not really bothering us or anyone else for that matter.  It's easy to ignore and won't take but a moment to get rid of, so it seems unnecessary to deal with it now when there are so many other things going on.

If we do not see sin as a thread, Satan wants us to see it as a chain.   It will be impossible for us to break away, so there is no use in struggling.  Any attempt to break free simply seems to remind us of the hopelessness of our situation.  The only solution seems to be to learn to live with it.

In truth, sin is never just a thread, and if it is a chain it is one to which we have been given the key.  While there was certainly a price to be paid to break out of it's bondage, we need not worry about having enough strength of will to pay because Jesus has already succeeded for us.

The only way we can still be forced to live in sin is if we believe that it is something that can be ignored.  For this reason, I urge you, brother and sisters in Christ, to ask God to examine your life for all the threads that need to be cut loose.  Let us rid ourselves of these things before we are led to believe they are chains that cannot be broken.