Dr. Lawrence Butler, The Bridge Church, Pembroke

If you’ve ever had any dealings with glue you know what a challenge it can be. I’ve had more experience with glue than I prefer. Various types of glue have crossed my path, things like Crazy Glue, Elmer’s Glue and Gorilla Glue. There has never been one that didn’t eventually end up on my fingers. In fact, some special training on how to use the stuff needs to be offered it seems to me, because my fingers usually seem to stick together better than the object I am supposed to be gluing. You can wash, scrub, peel your skin and complain but the sticky stuff remains on your fingers.

Adding more glue makes no sense, you just need something stronger than the glue to remove it.

Sin is a lot like glue. Brother, it can be sticky and hard to get rid of. The Bible said it this way, “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). Sin becomes the ruler of our lives, dominating and controlling us, demanding that we do things we prefer not to do but are unable to stop. Sin will not go away just because we decide to be different persons. Thinking about the example of glue reminds me that if you have sticky stuff on your fingers you don’t get rid of it by tapering off from the use of glue. Some think, well if I just get drunk less often, or use fewer drugs, things will be better. To remove what must go away will require something stronger than what the problem is. Paul said, “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (II Timothy 2:26).

There is a power, there is a substance, that will cleanse the heart.

Sin cannot dwell where God’s Holy Spirit lives. A great example of this is found in Mark 5 in the story of the demoniac of Gadara.

His very name, Legion, was given by the indwelling demons which controlled his life. He had no family, or at least none that preferred to claim him. He lived in the cemetery, wearing no clothes, and was probably psychotic. Day and night he cried, cut himself, and endured grief, sadness, anger and awful stress. This is a picture of a life that was destroyed by sin.

But, Praise God! He was delivered by Jesus. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).