Enemy Number One

By Rob Flood

I don’t know about you, but my pillow talks to me every night. It doesn’t yell, but it is a crystal clear whisperer. I know, telling you that my pillow talks to me might make you want to stop reading right now, but press on. You may discover that your pillow talks, too.

When I lay down at night, the house is quiet, but my mind is racing. And with a racing mind, my pillow whispers thoughts of how my day went. Sometimes, it shares its thoughts on the joys I experienced. More often, though, it shares with me regrets over my choice of words with my daughter…my tone with my son… missed opportunities.

And there’s often a theme. Like a recurring nightmare, sin themes occupy my one-way conversations with my pillow. Choices that repeat themselves mark our marriages. Can you relate to sin themes? Is your last conversation with your pillow in the front of your mind right now as you read? Good…because today we are declaring it Enemy Number One! And it is time for that pesky adversary to die once and for all!

Maybe it’s anger or passivity. Maybe you’re too demanding of your spouse, or too slothful. Maybe you don’t consider your spouse’s opinions or feelings…maybe you consider him or her too much because you want his or her approval.. Maybe it’s one of another hundred other things. Whatever it is, consider taking these steps toward changing the conversation.

– Call it out to the school yard for a fight. In other words, let the world know that you’re fighting it. Invite friends to circle around you as you fight it. Let them know what the issue is, when it usually peeks its ugly head, and specifically how you sin when it does. Don’t keep it a secret or whisper nasty things about it. Open your lungs and declare war on it.

– Tell your spouse about the war. Your spouse knows what it’s like to fight sin. He or she knows what it looks like when YOU fight your sin. They can serve as early detectors of the problem. And welcome their input when they share. Confronting a person on their sin can be a scary thing. So, provide them with “safe” words to highlight your sin. Mutually agreed upon words outside of conflict can be a great tool in the midst of conflict.

– Run a recon mission regularly. Check with those around you to see how the war is going. Fight the stealthy enemy of self-defense. Don’t excuse or explain away their observations. Embrace them and make tactical adjustments according to the input you receive.

– Show no mercy! Your Enemy Number One will have no mercy on you. It seeks to destroy you. So, have no mercy on it. When it is down, struggling, and groggy from the last strike, deal it a death blow. When it pleads for mercy, grant it none.

Like a good soldier fighting a good fight, when you go to sleep at night your pillow will whisper a job well done to you. The conversation will change. And we then prepare to move onto Enemy Number Two.

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