Emphasis Preaching Journal

I grew up knowing about pests in the house: flies, moths, ants, and mosquitoes. I also knew, theoretically, that some could infest a house’s wooden structure and ruin it. But, because I didn’t own a house, I wasn’t concerned with horror stories of either infestations or of the necessary remedies. Thus I was surprised as an adult to come upon the fuller consequences of insect infestation. I drove up to a giant house wrapped in a tent and held together by what appeared to be giant clothespins. A sign out front declared: “Terminex Treatment.” When a problem is deep and insidious, it must be dealt with completely—as with insects in a house and also with the sins Jesus identifies within us. No external treatment alone will touch it let alone cure it. Any measures to fix it must penetrate to the center of our personality.