Not too long ago, I found myself moody, hungry and washing dirty dishes. Perfect trifecta. In this state, the Lord spoke to me while I intensely stared and struggled to scrub a dirty, old pot covered in days old spaghetti. Makes me chuckle now, as this is the Lord’s signature move in my life-speaking to me in the middle of the mundane.

So here I was, using intense elbow crease to remove it, when it dawned on me that deep rooted sin was a lot like this hardened spaghetti. See, this spaghetti had been left there for far too long. It had a chance to undergo chemical changing processes, which warped its state; processes such as starch retrogradation and evaporation had left it dry and hardened. Had I quickly cleaned the pot instead of ignoring it, the spaghetti would have washed right off with water and soap. Instead, it was exposed to processes that removed water from its form and left it bonded to the metal.

Wow…what a striking similarity to sin…

This process is comparable to how sin births in our lives and becomes a stronghold. If we can quickly recognize sin, we can quickly eliminate it-similar to quickly washing off unwanted food from our dishes.

However, the opposite is true.

If we fail to acknowledge sin by ignoring it, we are robbed of life and hardened. For a Christian, having true life can be likened to the living water we find in the Lord (John 4:13-14). When we give sin a foothold, we close doors to that living water. We close doors to true living.

Before we know it, sin no longer feels like sin (James 1:14-16).

Instead, sin slowly starts to taste good. Eventually, the good that once filled us becomes unsatiating.

Parallel to the hardening of spaghetti by loss of water, our hearts are parched into stiff and dry postures.

A prompt acknowledgment and true repentance, similar to our analogy, could suspend this process. However, many of us choose the hard road to recovery.

We see in scripture, this has been the same human pattern since the beginning of time. Particularly, in the book of Numbers, we see the Israelites wonder in the desert for 40 years instead of navigating an eleven-day journey to the promise land (Numbers 14:33-34; Deuteronomy 8:2).

So, what will we choose when it comes to blatant sin glaring at us? Will we choose the hard road or the easier one? Will we place down pride, control, fear and/or shame; or will we caress the pleasures of our flesh?

I pray we keep choosing the road of sanctification. The road that leads to eternal life and not a facade of lies and self-deception (Mark 4:19). A road that ultimately leads to softened, receptive hearts.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. – Hebrews 3:15

So dear reader, I urge you to choose wisely so you can arrive at the promise land of true freedom sooner than later.

God bless.