The Big One Got Away, But the Little One Didn't

    Did you hear about the near miss last week? If you were watching the news, you knew it was coming, but we also knew it was going miss us by about 1,700 miles. That may seem like a long ways away, but not when it comes to meteors the size of a Wal-Mart, hurtling towards us at forty times the speed of sound. An impact from something like that would destroy a city, and could possibly cause global weather catastrophe. So obviously, even though it was going to miss us, scientists were watching it closely, and studying every detail they could surmise.
    And in doing so, they totally missed the one that didn’t miss us!
    That very day, a 50 ton meteor exploded in the sky over Russia, creating an explosion with the strength of an atomic bomb, destroying buildings below and injuring nearly a thousand people. And not a single scientist saw it coming.
    Why? They were too busy watching the big one, the one that wasn’t going to hit us anyway. In doing so, they didn’t see the little one (comparatively little, that is). The one that did enter our atmosphere and exploded about 25 miles above the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, was estimated to be about 50 feet in diameter, and between 30-60 tons. Below, glass was broken out of buildings, some buildings collapsed, and 985 people reported injury, with dozens being hospitalized.
    It was completely missed, because those who do the looking were distracted by the bigger intrigue.
    And that’s why I keep letting through the “little sins” in my life.
    We tend to be so fixated on the major sins that could potentially destroy our lives, and maybe even intent on steering clear from, that we forget about the damage done by those lesser noticeable vices that seemingly slip in under the radar.
    So you haven’t murdered, cheated on your spouse, or embezzled from your company, but what about envy, lust, deception, resentment and gossip? As we are pointing at the big sins of others, and feeling pretty good that we’ve kept our distances from them, have we allowed the hidden sins of the heart to creep in and take over? It’s those “little sins,” what Solomon called “the little foxes,” that destroy a character and implode a life. Suddenly there is this sonic boom and we ask, “What happened?” We were distracted by the big, and taken down by the little.
    After all, every sin has the same source. It’s why Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
    In other words, he was saying, “You might be feeling pretty good about not murdering, but the root sin of murder is the same as animosity. If you are guilty of one, you are guilty of the other.”
    So, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, and don’t steal. But don’t be distracted by those things either. Better yet, be on guard against the inner attitudes of anger, lust, and greed. If you stay clean from these hidden heart attitudes, you’ll have no trouble with the major issues that they lead to.