We all desire to be wise, but the keeping of pet sins is dangerous and foolish. Sin is an untamable beast and must not be underestimated. We are not strong enough to keep it as a pet or kill it in our own strength. But Jesus has overcome them all and has given us the power to overcome them as well.

All of us tend to put sins into categories. Sins like murder, adultery, theft, and violence we put in the “atrocious” category. We are a bit afraid of them because like a pride of lions, they will tear us apart, ruin our life, and possibly even kill us.  

Next we have anger, slander, cursing, and lying. We wag our finger at them and say they are bad.  While we know they can do damage we find ourselves indulging in them from time to time anyway.

Then we have sins like gluttony, improper joking, procrastination, impatience and wasting time and money, as well as sins of the mind like envy, lust and mean thoughts. We are not afraid of these sins. They seem to be no trouble. As a matter of fact, we often keep these sins as pets.  

Pet sins are those sins we believe we have domesticated. We view them as small and insignificant. We don’t fight against them, we feed them, and in some ways they make us feel good. But there is no such things as domesticated sin. All sin, even our “pet sins” are dangerous.

1. PET SINS GROW INTO DANGEROUS MONSTERS

Remember the movie Gremlins from the 80s?  That little mogwai was the cutest little thing until it came into contact with water (which caused it to multiply) or was fed after midnight, which turned it into a destructive monster.

The sins that we indulge may appear tame and harmless for a while, but at some point they will turn on us. At first they may disturb our peace or mess with our conscience, but eventually they multiply,  rise up against us and wreak havoc.

Envy can lead to constant unhappiness, malicious words about and to others, anger, and then theft. Lust can lead to adultery and the ruin of a family.  Laziness can lead to relationship difficulties, loss of job, and poverty. “Little” sins have the potential of growing into something that will wound us and others. All pet sins eventually grow up.

Sin aims always at the utmost … Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop…The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens mens’ hearts, and brings them to ruin.
John Owen

2. PET SINS HAVE A WAY OF GETTING OUT

As a teenager I lived in the French speaking country of Mali. While there I had a french tutor who was an older, very eccentric, french woman. I always felt a bit nervous about going over to her house because I was convinced that she had a wild cat as a pet.  My fear was always that the chain which was suppose to hold it would not be secure enough and it would come after me when I left. Pet’s have a way of escaping. Even our  turtles managed to escape and end up at our neighbors’ house.  

Pet sins will get out as well. No matter how hard we try to hide them or lock them away.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]