And yet, and yet…

I knew a woman who did not own a cat.

By itself, this statement shouldn’t make you curious. However, consider that this woman routinely had 20+ cats in her backyard every evening. The cats swarmed in the neighborhood and continued multiplying. The problem was so bad that animal control had to come to the house and remove them. These typically household pets became vermin.

What was the deal?

While the woman did not own a pet cat, for a while she put out food for strays in the neighborhood. Once this fact became known in the cat community (perhaps they are on NextDoor), her backyard quickly spun out of control. Even though she had not made the investment to allow a cat into her home, she became the cat lady of her neighborhood. And it took some serious work to de-feline her property.

Sin is like this for many of us. We don’t have a sin that we own or particularly love. We project our lives as clean of sin. We make the choice not to own it.

And yet, because we keep feeding that sin in the backyards of our lives, we are overrun. It may not be a lot, but feeding sin at all gives it an opening. A little sustenance gives sin a foothold.

Whether it’s greed, or lust, or envy, or rage, whether we want to claim it or not, if we feed sin it becomes ours. Vermin don’t often leave of their own accord. And just like with all cats, whoever feeds the cat is mastered by that same cat. Whoever feeds a sin becomes mastered by it.

So what should we do about these metaphorical cats in our lives? First, for goodness sake stop feeding it! Giving room in your life for something that is destructive will only grow chaos. Sin is not passive: either it grows or it dies. Stop feeding it.

Second, be open about the issue. Find trusted people who can speak into the situation, and shed light on the real problem of that sin. Others can prayerfully lift you up, challenge you, and sometimes give the tough love that you need. It’s amazing how our perspective on our own sin changes when a trusted believer speaks truth to us.

Third, redeem the situation by being the kind of person that helps others with that same issue. There’s no redemption in pretending to have it all together. Sometimes when we open up about the backyard cats in our lives, God can use us to help others hiding that same problem. This redemption can take the struggle of sin and use victory against it to fight back the darkness.

Friend, as you consider the hidden places of your life, take it seriously. Just like having 20+ cats hanging out in your backyard is a real problem, so also abiding sin in the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19) is a real problem. Let’s do something about it.

And seriously, stop feeding the stray cats!

Signs and wonders y’all.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6-7