Zechariah 5:1-5: a reflection

1Then again I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. 2He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.” 3Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land, for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. 4I will cause it to go out,” says the LORD of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.” 5Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is that is appearing.”

In one of Zechariah's visions, he sees a great scroll flying through the air, and it is told to him that this is a curse going out over the land, against two sins in particular: everyone who steals, and everyone who swears falsely by God's name. And this curse, he is told, will enter the house of the thief and the false swearer and remain there, consuming it from within. The sin does not stay outside; it takes up residence in the house and works its ruin from the inside.

Notice what the vision says about tolerated sin: it enters the house and remains, destroying it from within. The two sins named, stealing and swearing falsely, dishonesty in deed and dishonesty in word, are not pictured as remaining safely external; the curse settles into the very house, into the household, and consumes it. Sin we allow to dwell with us does not stay harmless or contained; it takes up residence within and does its quiet, ruinous work.

That is a warning about the sins we tolerate and house within our lives. We may imagine that a sin we allow to stay, a habit of dishonesty, a bit of theft, a false word, remains a small, contained thing that does no real harm. But sin we house does not stay contained; it settles in and works ruin from within, spreading through the household of our lives. Do not give sin a place to dwell in your house. The dishonesty, the small thefts, the false words you tolerate will not remain harmless; deal with them, put them out, rather than letting them take up residence and consume you from within. What you house, you give room to ruin you; do not make a home for sin.

Lord, in Zechariah's vision, the curse against the thief and the false swearer entered their house and remained there, consuming it from within; sin did not stay outside, but took up residence and worked its ruin. Warn me by that vision. I can imagine that a sin I allow to stay, a habit of dishonesty, a small theft, a false word, remains a contained thing that does no real harm. But sin I house does not stay contained; it settles in and works ruin from within, spreading through the household of my life. Keep me from giving sin a place to dwell in my house. The dishonesty, the small thefts, the false words I might tolerate will not remain harmless; help me deal with them, put them out, rather than letting them take up residence and consume me from within. Let me not make a home for sin, but keep my house clean before you, honest in word and deed.