Approximately seven or eight years ago I foolishly planted mint right outside my backdoor in my rock garden to fill in an empty spot where nothing seemed to grow. At first, I was thrilled with how well it flourished and the convenience of snipping a few sprigs when I wanted to refresh my water or tea. And then it took over, choking out my beautiful mini rose, killing the darling ground cover between rocks, and covering up my hens and chicks. As I worked to bring it under control, the roots just kept coming and then I realized they all connected back to the original plant, no matter how far away the mint cropped up. Sin was all I could think of, I even offered it to my pastor husband as a sermon illustration!

Sin, no matter how innocently it seems to start, will always choke out and kill in the end. And when we start pulling up the roots it so easily puts down in our lives, we realize they all connect and go back to that one bad choice, that one weak moment when we were overcome with the beauty and convenience of it all. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). This roaring lion cares not for age, life station, career choice, gender, or religion. He has one thought only, to devour you. He crouches, waiting for the weak moment, when our guard is down, when we are exhausted and in a mood to justify our actions; and then he springs when we least expect it and instead of feeling that violent wound for what it is, we revel in it like a child at play. We enjoy it, we spin our story of justification, and our flesh is satisfied until it isn’t and then we become the hungry lion wanting more. This vicious cycle plays itself out in our lives over and over, day after day, year after year.

Perhaps sin such as adultery or pornography are coming to mind or drug and alcohol addiction, they certainly spin a deadly web. But so does anger, gossip, laziness, and complaining. We’ve become complacent and consider these personality traits or “acceptable sins” while we condemn the “big” sins. What about the sin of justifying our sin? A deadly trap anyone can fall into, most particularly the older we get. The older we become and the longer we have belonged to Jesus does not make the battle with sin easier, frankly it is quite the opposite. Justifying our pet sin may very well be the sin of choice amongst those 40+. In the last few years, I have been shocked at how easily sin’s tentacles grab me out of seemingly nowhere. The Holy Spirit has used the shock of it to jerk me back on the path of righteousness.

What a gift Jesus left us when He gave us the Holy Spirit! “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17). He comforts and convicts simultaneously and most likely keeps us from some pretty deadly stuff. This an amazing, lifesaving gift that should cause praise to well up in our hearts and overflow! And yet so often we forget His important role in our daily lives and wallow in our defeat or attend our own pity party.

We must remind ourselves we are not alone in this battle. “Resist him [the devil], steadfast in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:9a). Resisting the devil is not a passive event, it is very much a proactive and active piece of business. Our two absolute best resisting activities are the ones we push off and undervalue. Daily Bible reading and prayer. They are so powerful, comforting, convicting, faith building, encouraging, and life giving yet so often they make the bottom of our list. This brings us back to that vicious hamster wheel our enemy wants us on. And are we on it! Have you noticed that one of his best tactics is to keep us so busy (sometimes doing things for God even) that we think we don’t have time to read the Bible or pray on our own or with our families? Whole books have been written about this landmine we potentially step into every day if we are not careful and deliberately seeking wisdom and discernment from our Heavenly Father.

“…knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:9b). What a comfort it should be to us that we are not alone. We fight shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in Christ and in the end share the victory that Jesus won on our behalf. The next time I am tempted to plant mint in my yard I will heed the expert’s advice and plant it in a pot where it will be contained. And may the Holy Spirit bring us reminders daily of where we are headed, the importance of the battle we are in, and the help we so desperately need to resist our enemy. Let’s encourage each other as well by lifting one another up in prayer, manifesting patience with our shortcomings, and loving our brothers and sisters enough to warn them when we see the roots of sin taking hold in their lives.