Creep, or to creep?
The question’s not clear, not without additional context. Creep has too many meanings, none of which are obvious, unless we are aware of the intent of the speaker.
For ease’s sake, let’s look at only two ways to use this word. Creep can mean to move at a snail’s pace, whether it’s in actual distance covered or how much progress we make in a project we’re completing.
To be a creep is totally different. Label someone a creep, and we splash all sorts of nuances over them. They peer in our windows at night, make suggestive comments on Facebook, or keep disgusting photos on their hard drives, ones that a normal person wouldn’t want anyone else to see.
Often the creep wants them hidden, also. On the outside we see a suit, a good job, and a trendy car. We might even see our creep dining at fashionable restaurants, possible with a family in tow. Maybe, just maybe we’ll find our creep on the church pew with us, singing a church hymn that exalts the Holy Name of Christ.
Now that’s a creep we don’t want to know.
Back to the first meaning of creep. To move at a snail’s pace. It’s how becoming a creep slips up on us. No one wants to become a creep. It slides its insidious tendrils into our lives like a rash on the back of our neck. We don’t see it, can’t really feel it at first, and it’s easy to cover. We appear on the up and up. Then it grows, and others begin to notice. No one says anything, but they know, and they begin to back away, keeping their distance.
The truth is, people don’t set out to be creepy. Becoming a creep creeps up on us. We must remember 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Kicking out the creepiness (sin) in our lives is a constant effort. We can never afford to overlook the small stuff. It will soon become the large stuff that creeps out those around us. Solomon 2:15 gives us our solution:
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”
Small sins are easy to eradicate. Just a little lotion on that rash, and it never moves past our collar. Soon, it’s gone forever. Just a little prayer, asking for God’s help, and the small sin is left at the altar. We become a new person.
It’s called repentance. It’s called forgiveness. It’s called righteous living. Oh, and it’s that other word, also. We call it salvation.
We can choose the righteousness of God or the failure of sin, but we do have to choose. Our lives will be better or worse from this day forward.
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Code: FGO.H.01.16a.vp.esv