There it was again. Hidden, growing in plain sight yet camouflaged. Despite my best intentions, it flourished under daily care. I thought I was nourishing the good, but all I did was provide sustenance and privacy for this most wicked thing. I was certain it was too late. Yesterday I had no awareness of it. Today, from nowhere, it had jutted out past the rest and its breadth spread out at least five times the size of its fairer companions. At least the others had the courtesy of staying in their place. With a steady hand, I tugged and pulled with the tweezers and plucked the unruly eyebrow hair into oblivion.
We have a tendency to think the best of ourselves. “I am a good person who aims to do what is right all the time.” The problem is that the Bible states, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9) One can live blissfully under the delusion that goodness is a natural part of who they are when out of the blue sin surfaces its ugly head. Wondering how such an evil landed upon us is just another trick of the heart. It should surprise us when any good at all manifests in us, and when doing so, realize it is only by the grace and mercy of God, and His indwelling Holy Spirit that it does so.
Perhaps a better way to live as a disciple of Christ would be to seek out that which is within us that does not conform to the image of Christ Jesus. He is merciful to reveal both the deep-rooted and shallowly planted errors in our hearts, the source of which all issues in life flow (Proverbs 4:23). And in doing so, He provides us also with the grace to overcome, as He always provides a way out from the pit of temptation.
You may even think this sin you’ve been carrying is too big, too deeply rooted to ever gain freedom from, but I assure you, it is never too late, nor a sin ever too great, for the Lord to overcome. He has already finished every work at the cross. Your only job is to receive it.
