Stop Cleaning Cobwebs: Beyond Quick Fixes to Real Freedomಮಾದರಿ

Let me share a story that perfectly illustrates how we sometimes deal with obvious problems in our lives.

Uni and Cecilia Wessels lived in Alberta, Canada. On a seemingly normal Saturday morning, Uni was outside mowing the lawn when their 9-year-old daughter saw something and ran inside to tell her mom. Cecilia came outside and started yelling at her husband to get inside.

He didn't listen. He kept mowing.

Cecilia was yelling because Uni was mowing his lawn while a tornado was approaching! When she couldn't get his attention, she grabbed her phone, took a picture, and posted it on social media. The image went viral: a man calmly mowing his lawn with a massive tornado in the background.

When interviewed later, Uni said, "I was keeping an eye on it. I see the tornado over there, but I'm just going to keep mowing my lawn."

I wonder - do you approach the problems in your life like Uni approached that tornado? You see the issue over there—the addiction, the unhealthy relationship patterns, the anger that's destroying your family—and you think, "I'm keeping an eye on it. I'll just keep living my normal life."

But ignoring something dangerous doesn't make it go away. It just gives it more time to grow stronger.

Before I preached a series inspired by Carlos’s book Kill the Spider, I began experiencing opposition I hadn't felt in years. I had technical difficulties, distractions, and even physical symptoms that seemed designed to prevent me from bringing this message.

One Friday night, I went to sleep and began shivering, though I had no fever. I was up for hours, and eventually I started praying because this felt like a spiritual attack. I even asked God to awaken a person who knew about the opposition I was facing, so they could pray for me.

The next morning, after a couple of hours of sleep, I texted that person about something else and mentioned what had happened. That person replied, "That's strange, Scott. Last night I had a dream about you. You were preaching, and you passed out. I woke up and started praying for you at the same time you asked God to wake me up."

We serve a mighty God!

If you start going after the real issues in your life—the spiders, not just the cobwebs—you're going to experience resistance. You're going to face opposition. Things are going to get uncomfortable before they get better.

Your enemy doesn't want you to break free. He's invested in keeping you stuck, struggling, and settling for less than what God intended for your life.

But, the God we serve cares more about your freedom than your comfort. He wants you to break free from the places where you've been settling and struggling. Don't forget - breaking free is uncomfortable!

Psalm 90 reminds us that our lives are brief, and they pass quickly. David's prayer was, "Teach us to number our days carefully, so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts." (Psalm 90:12 CSB)

There's an expiration date on the opportunities before you. You don't have forever to address these issues.

Tomorrow, we'll look at practical steps you can take to start identifying your own cobwebs and the spiders behind them.