“It’s not a shame to contract head-lice, but it is a shame to keep them and ignore the problem.”

That’s a statement we were ‘comforted’ with years ago when one of our three daughters came home from school with a note from the nurse informing us that after a head-check at school, lice were found in her hair. Can I just tell you with this being our first experience with them that we were mortified. Thankfully a dear friend in our church who had been a hairdresser for years came to our rescue to show Kathy how to ‘treat’ the problem, reassuring us with that statement about not feeling shame over the discovery.

Can I also tell you that ‘ignoring’ them, or pretending they don’t exist... won’t make the lice go away?

On another note of interest- it was in the 1800’s that the recognition of bacteria and microscopic germs changed the way doctors practiced medicine, and more specifically the way they performed surgeries. It was during the Civil War that they learned that the spread of infection could be curbed when they sanitized and sterilized their surgical tools after each use, which previously...was not a practice. Go figure. Obviously, these tiny microbes were unseen to the naked eye and continued to do much damage as infection and germs spread. I have to wonder if there were many skeptics when the theory was first pitched to folks back then...how these ‘tiny, invisible germs’ were spreading and causing more harm and sickness and even death. Being open to ‘truth’ truly changed the face of medical practice after this realization.

Anyone see where this lesson might be going today? Did God not speak through Hosea to inform us that His people...were destroyed due to a lack of knowledge? (Hosea 4:6)

If you have been tracking with me here the past few days, we have waded back into a subject that I fear many sincere believers are ill-informed about, for a host of reasons. And it has to do with the fact that we truly do live in a ‘spiritual world’ where there really is more to this life than just eating, drinking, and being merry. (Luke 12:15; Mark 8:36;4:19; Matt. 6:31-33). And as I pointed out yesterday, if we are ‘spiritually dead’ (or malnourished), then our awareness and sensitivity to this ‘spiritual world’ is dulled...if not non-existent.

So consider this: (quick review) – we were created in God’s image as ‘spiritual beings’, having a ‘soul’ and were ‘housed’ in a physical body, hence...being ‘spirit, soul, & body’ (1 Thess. 5:23). Our condition, according to Eph. 2:1 prior to ‘being made alive’ was we were ‘dead in sins and trespasses’. God was not kidding when He said that ‘sin brings forth death’, which we have come to learn is a result of being separated from God. (James 1:15; Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23; 8:13). And if we truly want to experience ‘life’, we have to come to Him with our whole heart (John 5:39-40; 10:10). Once we do turn to Him, the ‘veil’ is removed and we begin to ‘see more clearly’ what is really happening all around us. (2 Cor. 3:16; 4:3-4’ Acts 26:18; 2 Tim. 2:25-26)

This is why I find myself going back to 1 John 5:19 and Rev. 12:9 when I need to remind myself and others how we ought to be viewing this world we live in, which Paul also confirms in Eph. 6:12. This whole world is being deceived and led astray and/or influenced by the power of an ‘unseen spiritual enemy’ that John refers to as the ‘wicked one’. And friends...all I am doing here is pointing out plenty of ‘evidence’ from God’s word to bring to your attention. What you do with this information is between you and God (Acts 17:11). Granted...to those who don’t believe in the message of the cross...this is all ‘foolishness’ (1 Cor. 1:18)

So when God says His people...are being ‘destroyed’ due to a lack of knowledge, may I remind you who Jesus said was the one doing the ‘destroying’ in John 10:10? And could this be the same ‘thief’ that Jesus warned we better be on guard against and keep watch for in Matt. 24:42-44? Oh...how many of you made that connection there with Jesus’ return having something to do with the coming of a ‘thief’? And what is the Day of the Lord going to be like? Did Jesus not warn the church at Sardis that unless they repented, that He would come to them as a ...’thief’? (1 Thess. 5:2; Rev. 3:3; 16:15)

But wait...there’s more. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he brings to our attention in chapter 10 how God dealt with that first generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt and in the wilderness where their hearts were being ‘tested’...they failed the test repeatedly, and God was not messing around. How were a good number of them dealt with according to vs.8-11, and why is Paul bringing this to our attention?

Folks...is the ‘light coming on’ for any of you today as to what I am getting at in sharing what God is trying to awaken us to?

Let me assure you that this ‘abiding in Jesus’ way-of-living has nothing to do with being overly pre-occupied with ‘unseen and unclean spirits’; far from it. But I would be lying to you if I said there was no reason to be concerned about them, given what Peter admonishes us to do in 1 Pet. 5:8-9, and Paul reminds us of in Eph. 4:27.

And you thought this lesson was going to be about head lice and bad germs. Perhaps I’ll revisit that topic...tomorrow. (Lord willing, of course)