No fleas, please!

I have three members of my family: little Mama Mia, who has fleas, and loves to sleep next to my head; Pingo, who has fleas, but obeys me and sleeps next to my feet; and my wife, who has no fleas. I love them all, but I don’t love fleas. Therefore, I have a code of conduct—keep the fleas away from me.

This is no problem with my wife, and because Pingo can follow orders, he is also not a problem. But, little Mama Mia, well she sleeps in the kitchen. She comes almost nightly and stands at the fence that I’ve put in front of my bedroom door to keep her out. She wants to sleep with me; but I can’t let her. I love her; but I don’t love her fleas.

It breaks my heart to turn her away. But I can’t have another infestation of her fleas. So I must firmly ignore her. I can’t even offer her a glance or her hopes spring up and she starts to tap dance, jump around with her over-sized Chihuahua ears and bulging eyes, and chirps out her whimpers. And I pet her and give her some lovin’. We do go for walks, though. She loves to chase after Pingo.

So, I don’t completely ignore her. She loves walking with me. She loves me. She wants to be with me. I love her; I just don’t love her fleas.

This is the quandary God is in. He has three groups He must deal with. The holy angels who have no sin; His converted children whose hearts are perfect toward Him, who have sin, but respect Him enough to obey Him; and His unconverted, willful children.

All of His human children have a problem, whether converted or not. They have sin so deeply ingrained that all the overcoming for all their lifetime would not remove their sinfulness. And often, when the Lord does cleanse them with sin shampoo for dogs and sinners, in short order they go places, and sins jump right back into their heart and mind again. Victory over incestuous sin is a long, hard battle, the work of a lifetime.

But among His earth-bound children He has those who come to Him, learn of Him. For them He most successfully gives the power to obey Him so that when He says to go here or there with Him, and do this or that with Him, they cooperate with Him, which brings Him glory. They are His obedient, humbled ones. Their sanctification does not cause their sinful nature to disappear. That awful condition is here to stay until Jesus comes, but the goodness they see in Jesus, and which He transfers to them, covers their sinful natures and makes them as beloved as their Master is.

Everyone who disdains the union with Christ and His sanctification, are not necessarily on death row. God still shows them great grace, despite the crudeness of their lives. Their pride does not make them less beloved to Him than the obedient saints—rather, God shows them more attention. He does things 180^◦ different than we do—He loves His enemies; but He cannot abide in their heart like He wants to. He loves them; but He doesn’t love their sins.

Though He loves them, He must withhold His Spirit because they will not accept His disposition toward sin. Even if they are seeking Him, until they can’t humble themselves and receive a willingness to prepare their hearts, they are not worthy of His presence or His heaven. Even though they are dear to Him, and He draws them, He can’t risk them spreading their rebellion.