Sin and Germs: Sinaphobe??

As my husband pitifully lay curled up in the bed this week with a bad stomach virus, I found myself spraying Lysol on every surface he might have possibly touched, and I started carrying around a bottle of hand sanitizer. Needless to say, I wasn't a very good nurse because I was so afraid of getting the virus myself. My avoidance of his germs started to make me think about sin.

What if we avoided sin like we do germs and took the same precautions to guard ourselves from becoming infected by it? Think about that as you go through your day.

In what areas of your life could you use a little Lysol disinfecting spray? Maybe you have habits of which God would not approve that you need to overcome. Maybe you need to prioritize and spend more time reading your Bible than watching television. Maybe you should stop gossiping and repeating everything you read on Facebook. Maybe you should spend more time talking about God than arguing about football.

In what ways could you keep sin at arms length and not let it touch you? Maybe you could not listen to the dirty jokes your coworkers laugh about in the breakroom. Maybe you can remove the Facebook friends whose status updates fill your newsfeed with ugly language. Maybe you can change the channel or turn off the television when the show becomes violent or graphic. If you wouldn't want your kids to watch it, chances are that you shouldn't watch it either.

Sin - which is everywhere - is a virus that will infect and destroy your life, but you have to still live your life. You need to protect yourself and your family from this sin virus, but that doesn't mean keeping your family locked away in a clean room forever. In John 17: 15-19, Jesus prayed:

¹⁵ My prayer is NOT that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.