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As Beth shuffled past me at the ice cream shop, she leaned down to mess with her socks. They were cute socks from what I could see—white with some kind of dark design on them, maybe bows or flowers; I don’t quite remember. But I do remember thinking “cool socks. Why don’t I have any cute socks?”

“I can’t stand these socks,” she said. “They always bunch up. I don’t know why I don’t throw them away.”

But Beth and I both knew why she didn’t throw them away. They were cute. And if you leave cute socks in the drawer long enough, you forget that they bunch up when you wear them. Weeks later you put them back on, and by 8:30 in the morning you remember why you haven’t worn them in so long.

And then it occurred to me, the same is true of sin in life. We can’t stand when we gossip about people, for instance. It makes us feel guilty and a little nauseated, so we clean it up and put it back in the drawer.

But time passes, and because the words are cute with a fun pattern on them, we get them back out and put them on. But as soon as the words come out, we remember how the bunched up slander makes us feel and forces us to shuffle along making sure no one sees or hears us.

I think the principle applies to lots of sin, and the answer is the same for all of it. The Apostle Peter writes this:

…Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

If we keep moving forward in our faith, we won’t be tempted to get out the old, bad habits and sins for which Christ has already forgiven us.

Like Beth, you may have an adorable pair of socks worth keeping. But no sins are so cute and comfortable that we should want to get them back out of the drawer. We need to throw them away and buy a new pair of godliness and kindness that we can keep around forever.

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 29, 2010)