Camouflaged

I stood on the front porch of my home ready to greet my guest who was just climbing out of her car. While I waited, I turned to look at the two landscaping grasses I had planted a few weeks before … checking to see how they were doing. Looking good, I thought.  

With a wave of my hand, I welcomed my friend. As we walked in the house, my mind returned to that grass plant closest to the house. There were two colors of green in there. Was that right?  

Plant forgotten, we spent some time visiting. But again, as I was saying goodbye at the door, my eyes broke contact with hers and returned to the plant. That’s when I spied it. In the center of that decorative grass was a weed … a big one. It was as tall as the plant, but camouflaged by its stems and fronds.  

I had to pull hard to remove it.  

As an overeater, I have a lot of practice with camouflage; a bowl of ice cream eaten with a friend because it would be rude to say no. Eating everything on my plate at the restaurant … even though I am full … because I would be wasting money if I didn’t. And then there are those starving children in China my mother told me about. I needed to eat for them too.  

For others, it’s not food. A drink with a friend leads to another one. But you don’t have a problem with drinking … you are just being friendly.  

There are many ways to camouflage an undesirable habit. Sometimes it takes another person to point them out.  Other times we just have this little feeling in the back of our minds that something is just not quite right. But when we finally spy the problem, we need to take action.  

We have to pull hard to remove it.  

Sin is like that too. It comes camouflaged in many designs. That’s why we read our Bible and have other Christ-follower friends. We then can see the camouflage for what it is and deal with the issue.  

But if we turn to Christ, we don’t have to pull hard to remove it. He does that for us.

“It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.” Romans 7:21-25 (MSG)