How could we not love cruising the Danube and Rhine rivers in Eastern and Central Europe?  It’s like going back in time to a simpler way of life.  All on a floating first-class hotel with a five-star restaurant amply meeting all our needs!  We upgrade to a balcony, which is barely usable as we traverse literally dozens of dark-inducing navigation-locks all along those fabled waterways.

One night we couldn’t believe our eyes.  Looking out onto our balcony we see cloud-like white flapping wings of myriad thousands of moths.  Foolishly, I open our sliding-glass door to shoo them away only to welcome in those flying buggers.  Now they take over our stateroom.  So I grab a magazine and start swatting, flailing and whacking away with determined ferocity.  And what a bloody mess I make!  Took the staff quite awhile cleaning and disinfecting our walls and furniture.  I did a good job.  Maybe a little too good?  Should never have given those winged beasties an opening.

A lesson here?  Don’t give a fighting chance to sin.  Try not to open that window or door even a smidgen.  Hosea 5 spills the beans on God’s people who overflow with wickedness.  They’re warned, in no uncertain terms, that consequences will usher in unanticipated troubles.  If the Lord’s people don’t turn around and run to God for His help and healing, He’ll be to them like those little varmints were to us in our stateroom.  Hosea 5: 12–‘But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.’  Moths and dry rot–what God’s judgement looks like to the unrepentant.  Make a sharp U-turn.  Do a one-eighty.  For sin leads to a double-whammy chain reaction.

Before we sell our 70-year old home, inspectors check high-and-low for structural issues.  At the top of their list is dry rot.  After all, we live in a rainy climate, making rot a real problem, especially for an older property.  Decaying wood leads to moogoo bucks in repair bills.  No wonder they check so thoroughly.  The results?  We pass but not without a whole bunch of stress and worry.

That lesson again?  Let go of sin.  Don’t allow those pesky, unglodly ‘moths’ in.  Treat spiritual foundation and siding with care and protection.  Keep the ‘doors’ and ‘windows’ closed tight as hard-nosed sin sniffs out nonstop for even the tiniest break.

Know your Bible.  Spend quality and quantity time daily in its pages.  Get closer to Jesus.  Never shy away from Him.  Even cuddle up a little closer.  He’s waiting!

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me so much.  Amen.