If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. (Heb. 10:26)

They were everywhere, and they were annoying. Hundreds of them buzzed around the room. I swatted at them. I covered them with bug spray. For every one that I killed, two more seemed to appear. They were multiplying.

I was about to surrender to them. The only place I had ever seen fruit flies was around rotting citrus. Then, I remembered the soft orange that I had tossed in the garbage can under the kitchen sink two days previously. There was the problem. A cloud of the tiny insects flew up at me from a moldy orange that now appeared to be a gray, fuzzy tennis ball. I took the rotten fruit to our outside garbage can, and the flies disappeared.

Occasionally, we may find there is “rotting fruit” in our lives. Someone has wronged us, and we’re tempted to hold on to a grudge. Life gets busy and hectic, and we think we can skip our morning prayer time. When those things threaten to creep into our lives, we must remember that we cannot hide anything from God.

So, what is “bugging” you? Don’t deliberately continue to sin. Seek the source of your discomfort or your anger, even if it means facing a fault that you harbor inside yourself. Confess your sin to God and ask for forgiveness. God will help you deal with it.

Dispose of any “rotting fruit” in your life by asking God’s forgiveness.

Drexel Rankin is a retired ordained minister who has served full time in Indiana, Alabama, and Kentucky. He and his wife, Patty, currently live in Louisville, Kentucky.

© 2019 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.