So about treating that head-lice problem we mentioned the other day....

I’m guessing that most people have the same, or a similar reaction upon discovering the news that they or one of their darling children came home from school with head lice. Shock, denial, and disbelief might be the first reactions, followed up by repulsion, dread, and shame, ...before panic sets in wanting to take care of the problem immediately. (Anyone ever been tempted to want to dunk their kid’s head into a pail of gasoline?)

Once a wave of calm sanity sets in, one becomes educated on how to treat this ‘plague’ so they can resume a normal life again. I don’t know how much has changed since we were forced into facing this back in the early 90’s, but it was not cheap, nor was it some ‘one and done’ treatment deal either. I remember all the sheets and bed linens needing to be stripped from the beds and washed in hot water with a pricey detergent additive or something similar. Then, there was the specialized, over-the-counter shampoo that was not cheap either. (Seems if memory serves me correctly...everything was expensive back in that season of life for us being on a limited budget.)

But here was the eye-opener that gives one pause – the initial head wash with this shampoo, possibly followed up by a second wash/rinse was only designed to treat the head lice that were ‘alive’ at the time. Yes, the chemical in the soapy mixture killed those pesky critters...but does anyone know what a ‘nit’ is? Nits were those tiny little ‘eggs’ that were attached to the hair follicles close to the scalp, and those did not just ‘rinse out’, nor could one just run a comb through their head a few times and shake them out. (Anyone scratching their head about now?)

You had to go through the hair with a fine tooth comb, and a bright light close by and remove those little things one by one. Whatever plans you had previously for that evening were set aside as you could easily spend several hours going through this tedious process, depending on how much hair the child had.

And here was the ‘gut-punch’ you least expect: If you are not thorough on the first go around in removing all those nits, within a week or two you could be right back at square one with another head full of lice and then have to go through that whole costly process again. Ask me how I know.

I think this has to be a record for me on these postings, to be this far in and I have yet to quote one single Bible verse. My apologies if anyone is bothered by this today. Now let me connect some dots in explaining where I am going with this because as quirky as this analogy might come across to some, I believe it serves, in a limited way (as all analogies do) to offer up a very good picture of what this process of ‘sanctification’ that we ‘believers’ are to undergo as we commit our hearts in surrender to following Jesus. And you are going to want to take your time with this.

When a person turns to Jesus for the first time, broken and repentant and ready to receive this ‘eternal life’ and all it offers, like forgiveness, cleansing, renewal and the promise of becoming a ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:17)...there is a ‘washing’ of God’s presence that can be overwhelming (in a good way) as you enter in to His presence. (Acts 3:19;Luke 15:20; James 4:8-10). I would even liken it to what Zacchaeus experienced after his first encounter with Jesus who when seeing his heart...Jesus proclaimed “Today salvation as come to this house” (Luke 19:9)

I liken this to that initial head wash one undergoes for the lice treatment, maybe even a second one for safekeeping. Such a feeling of hope that one is well on their way to being ‘made whole’ again. You could even compare all the bed linen stripping and washing to what new converts tend to do and experience where they find a need and desire to separate themselves from past associations and practices that perhaps contributed to their living a life apart from God. Not a major comparison here but it works for me.

But as we learned from the process of making this a successful endeavor, you know there is still some time and work ahead to ensure one has been cleansed completely of all traces of lice, which includes the removal of all the ‘nits’. As we like to say: “You’re not out of the woods, yet!” This is why we should caution people to not let their guard down and assume all is well with your head (or your soul) just yet (a ‘false security’ perhaps?). Failure to ‘continue on’ in this process could be detrimental to your original goal which was to be completely free of these lice. And since we are drawing parallels with our walk of faith and salvation, would you take a moment and go read Colossians 1:21-23 and be sure to underline vs. 23.

I know some will take exception to this, but I am not going to tap dance around certain things I know to be true because it might make some people uncomfortable...the analogy of head lice here is a picture of those ‘unclean spirits’ that have operated in and controlled us for a very long time (1 John 5:19; Eph. 2:1-3). We just need to start calling them for what they are (Eph. 6:12) and be encouraged that Jesus is still in the business of ‘healing all who are oppressed by the devil’ (Acts 10:38) and He is still willing to ‘set the captives free’ (Luke 4:18; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; Acts 26:18). And simply getting rid of them without learning how to keep them out is not enough, given what we learn in Matt. 12:43-45.

Running a tad long today, once again, but in closing, let us not forget what Lazarus was in need of when he was ‘made alive’ and brought back from the dead. After he made his way out of that dark and stinky tomb, it seems he still had some ‘bondages’ that he needed to be ‘loosed’ from as well. (John 11:43-44)

Join me tomorrow? There’s more.