Fleas and Warfare

OK, confession time. We have a dog, and this summer, that means like everyone else in our area with a pet, we have fleas. We've never had them before in 12 years of pet ownership, and so we've been learning a lot!

For example, did you know that fleas have 4 stages in the life cycle - and at one of the stages, larvae, the flea can survive for months without a food source (i.e., blood). Flea eggs can live after the fleas that laid them are dead, and to my horror, one flea can lay billions of eggs.

All of this means that our approach has had to attack the flea at all stages of development. It means we've had to treat our dog, our yard, our house, and even our car. We've used a variety of tools in the treatment. And in the process, I've learned a lot about warfare.

Sin is a lot like the fleas we've been fighting. It's a greedy parasite that can lay dormant for an extended time. That's why some of the lessons I've learned fighting fleas can help me spiritually as well.

Get to the source. This means fighting a multi-front war. We couldn't just treat our dog - we had to treat all places the fleas went when they weren't on the dog. Likewise, with sin we can't just attack the symptom - such as a sharp tongue. We have to treat the underlying source - the pride, or bitterness, or selfishness, that reveal themselves in bad fruit.

Take serious action to gain the upper hand. As much as I complained about the fleas, not much happened until we started taking serious action. We had to move beyond occasionally spraying the dog to committing significant amounts of time to getting rid of fleas. Similarly, sin doesn't go away on its own, even when we recognize that it's unpleasant. We have to get serious about fighting sin, and that requires commitment that might be inconvenient but is utterly
essential.

Keep the momentum. We're at a stage now where we haven't seen fleas in a couple of days, and things seem pretty "normal". But we've made the mistake previously of quitting after a couple of rounds of treatment - not realizing that those larvae were just waiting for a blood source to walk by :). Now we know that to keep the momentum, we have to fight daily against the fleas we can no longer see. Sin is like the fleas - "crouching at your door", as God told Cain in Gen. 4. The author of Hebrews wrote of sin that "so easily entangles us" and gave us the solution: Keeping our eyes on Jesus. He shed blood for our sin, so any struggle we make against it will never go beyond what He's already done (Heb. 12:1-3). This should motivate us to keep fighting for a victory that has already been secured on our behalf. But the fight must proceed daily!

Don't fight alone. The tasks involved in "flea-proofing" our home would be overwhelming if I tackled them by myself. But because my husband and I team up, we are able to maximize our efforts and maintain a better consistency in the process. When you are actively trying to gain the upper hand against a certain sin, it's important to solicit prayer support and accountability. Find believers you trust to fight with you and help you maintain the momentum. And realize that you are not alone in the struggle! When I shared my "flea prayer request" with a friend the other night, she immediately said, "Oh, I'm having the same problem"! We realized that we were fighting the same battle. 1 Cor. 10:13 tells us that our temptations are "common to man" - whether other people mention them or not. And Jesus is our way out!

The battles you face on the field certainly involve significant outside warfare from the enemy. But I've talked to enough of you to realize that you also struggle with the same sins we face daily at "home". Keep fighting!