If you have an aversion to bugs or anything creepy, I suggest you stop reading now.

If you are still with me, you are either not bothered by small creatures with six or eight legs, or just overcome with curiosity.  Consider yourself warned. 

Not long ago I encountered a cockroach in our garage.  I grabbed a broom and attempted to smash him, but at the last millisecond, he disappeared under a metal shelf.  In response, I purchased several roach hotels at my local hardware store, and placed them in a few strategic locations.  For the next several days I drew on my grandfather’s trapping mentorship as we would “run” the steel traps he had set to catch varmints on his farm.  “Running” roach hotels is a bit easier, but no less critical!

Unfortunately, or fortunately, my traps caught relatively little over the next few days.  A spider here.  A small bug there.  But no cockroach.  The good news was that I apparently didn’t have an infestation.  The bad news was the fugitive was still at large.

Finally, one “dark and stormy might” I stepped into the garage to find my allusive roach positioned near the metal shelf where he had disappeared earlier.  I grabbed a broom, and after several blows, dispatched the roach to wherever his kind go when they die.  I think I know.

As a result of this experience, and my somewhat warped sense of metaphor, I have been pondering the lesson of the roach hotel.  I know this sounds strange.  Ok, it is strange.  But “stick” with me here.  I present this truth: roach hotels target the specific while also giving careful attention to the general.  They are designed to catch roaches, but are capable of entombing lots of other crawly things.

It like manner, when it comes to eliminating things in our lives that don’t belong, such as sins and unhealthy habits, we need to focus on the specific and the general.  If we are aware of a specific struggle, we might establish rules that reduce triggers and temptations, or ask trusted friends to hold us accountable.  But there are some dangers we may not recognize.  Perhaps we dabble in sins which have become so acceptable in our culture, we no longer feel convicted.  Or we have adopted unhealthy habits which are not sinful in themselves, but put us at great risk.   

Therefore, we need two approaches.  We need to attack the specific by setting up boundaries around known sins and unhealthy habits, and we need to immerse ourselves in truth and community, which help us avoid the perils we don’t always see.  Assuming most of us are more aware of our specific personal battles (which are no less serious), allow me to briefly expose the general; the sins and unhealthy habits which are more subtle and possibly more sinister.    

First are errant words or actions when we are not at our best.  We all go through seasons of weariness which impair our judgement.  We snap at our loved ones, act selfishly or “lose our religion” in the presence of co-workers or strangers.  God understands we have physical, spiritual and emotional limits and extends grace when we act out of character.  However, Satan monitors our state of being and leverages our unintentional mess-ups for his purposes.  With this in mind, we must fight back with the practice of prayer and by spending time in the Word of God.  While these disciplines are valuable in any case, when it comes to our depleted souls, they provide spiritual life which helps us regain our balance.

Second are sinful thoughts that ambush us.  It is true that ungodly thinking often finds a home in hearts and minds that have become cozy with sin.  But it is also true, we can be caught off-guard by circumstances we did not anticipate.  As a result, we can be surprised by jealousy, unrighteous anger, lust, envy and hate.  The story of David’s sin with Bathsheba is well-known, but it is important to note at least two factors that set the stage for failure.  First, David was home bored while other men were fighting his nation’s wars.  Secondly, he caught an untimely glimpse of his commander’s wife taking a bath on a rooftop.  We might speculate that perhaps David’s heart was left unguarded because he had neglected his time with God.  Certainly, he was detached from his obligation to the warriors who were protecting his kingdom, not the least of which was Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.  If only he had positioned himself for the unexpected, he might have escaped.  In contrast consider Jesus, who during His forty days of fasting in the wilderness was presented with three temptations by Satan; those of hunger, fame and greed.  Each time, Jesus referenced scripture and leaned into His Father’s wisdom. When His trial ended, God sent angels to comfort Him.  We may not find a scripture for every temptation we face, but we can saturate our heart and mind with God’s truth which will, in turn, help us prepare for the unexpected.

Finally, it is possible to waste the resources and opportunities God gives us in favor of lesser pursuits.  Often the choices we make that keep us from God’s will are not sinful or selfish.  Still, they consume our time and talent and lead us to squander what God has put before us in a particular season in our lives.  In the first church we find a young leader by the name of Mark who abandoned Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey.  It is thought he was overcome with fear when he saw the risks associated with sharing the gospel.  Later, Paul refused to take Mark on a new campaign, but Barnabas embraced him and helped him restore his dignity.  Paul and Mark eventually repaired their rift and Mark went on to write the gospel that bears his name.  Mark was not a bad person, or a coward.  But he was rattled by his circumstances and chose a disappointing path.  Perhaps, Mark would have had a stronger resolve had he spent more time contemplating his commitment in the beginning.  Or maybe he was just immature.  We really don’t know.  But we do know we can miss what God puts before us when a litany of general fears, doubts and concerns invade our peace of mind and send us chasing after the wind. This reality was on Solomon’s mind when he wrote, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind”. (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

As you can see, temptations can come from anywhere, and we will not recognize them all.  But if we target the ones we see specifically and establish spiritual habits that catch those which are more general, we are more likely to stay in step with God’s will.

So, you see, a roach hotel has spiritual value, especially in reference to the biggest, nastiest cockroach of all; Satan himself.  Do you have a hard time seeing Satan as a cockroach?  Remember, God promised Jesus would “crush his head!” Imagine Satan smashed under the foot of Jesus with goo gush…..

Ok. I know Jesus crushed the “serpent’s” head.  But I still like the connection.  The metaphor fits!  Even now, Satan has been crushed.  But we still need to be careful until his tiny little feet stop flailing.

I encourage you to put out your traps and run them regularly.  It’s better to be the trapper than the trapped!