Sin is sort of like … Checking into a Roach Motel

Have you ever made the same mistake you saw someone else make, even after seeing the hurt it caused that person?

Okay, okay, I admit it. We had roaches in the house one time. I think they crawled up the plumbing or had an inside track to the bathroom, because that’s where I’d always see them. Usually it was during the middle of the night, with my eyes half open, my bladder the only part of me that was fully awake, my feet bare, and … ARRRRGGHH! The fleet-footed little creature would run across just enough open terrain  to make my toes curl before it darted into some crack or crevice. And that hiding place was always shaped differently than any would-be weapon in the house.

Then we got a roach motel. If you’ve never used one of these things, it’s almost worth getting a few roaches just to see it in action. They’re lightweight, little cardboard boxes with narrow strips of … roach bait, I guess … and high-powered glue strips running along either side of the bait.

As I opened the package and examined my first roach motel, I wondered what would entice a roach inside it, and what possible good those little strips of glue could do. But I dutifully placed it in the bathroomright by their impenetrable crevice fortressand at 2:00 A.M. I had my first catch. It was stuck just inside on the first of the three glue strips, wriggling like crazy, but definitely “checked in.”

I started to throw the little motel away, but it suddenly hit me that catching one roach per motel would be an expensive way to solve the problem. So I decided to put the trap back down. My “guest” wasn’t going anywhere, and while I didn’t expect any halfway intelligent cockroach to go into the “occupied” motel, I took some delight in thinking of this creature as an intimidating example that would scare the rest of the tribe (what’s a group of cockroaches called anyway?) out of my bathroom.

The next morning I was amazed to find five guests! Then eight, then eleven. I think the most I could ever fit into one motel was twenty-five or so. (Don’t tell the roach motel fire marshalwe may have been over the occupancy level.) They would actually crawl over one another to get inside to the bait. I thought the middle strip of glue would be useless, because only the strips on each end would catch anything that came in. But when the outer glue strips were full, new roaches stepped on the backs of their trapped compatriots! My astute conclusion? Roaches are as stupid as they are ugly. Or are they?

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
(John 8:31-34)

Jesus’ conversation with his critics shows us that those trapped in sin don’t consider themselves trapped. They’re more interested in their desires (the bait, if you will) than in freedom from their condition. And they love company. Look at how Jesus’ critics always traveled in packs, reassuring each other that their security was in their ancestry, or good works, rather than in the truth of God’s salvation and liberation from sin.

Why do you and I wander into the sin trap time and time again? Maybe we just look at the bait and choose to ignore the glueand the two always go together. Why don’t those already caught in the trap warn us? They love the company and the perverse reassurance that the pack is growing and they’re not alone.

Why are we so slow to seek an escape from the trap? Our sin deceives us into believing we’re in a comfortable moteluntil we try to check out and can’t pay our bill.

I never, ever saw a roach leave the motel under its own power. Of course, I held the power to redeem them from their trap and give them a fresh start on my bathroom floor. But remember, these were ugly, disgusting roaches. It’s not like I was willing or able to do what our Redeemer did and become a roach myself.

Have you checked in?
Are you in any way stuck with a pack of others in self-destructive behavior? (Don’t answer too quicklyremember, one of the characteristics of being there is not being able to admit it.) Are you willing to ask God for some truth to set you free? Are you willing to check out of any motels you find yourself in, right now?

You might also take a look at … Isaiah 3:9; 1 Timothy 5:24