Blacklight Heart: Comfortable Sins We Ignore Daily

"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'" - Luke 18:13

They say your smartphone is the hand you don't wash. Do you clean your phone regularly? I sanitize mine with UV-C light at least once a day—but then again, I'm one baby step removed from Bob Wiley, Bill Murray's iconic, lovable, neurotic character. I can almost hear him now: "Dr. Marvin, I need to disinfect my phone! What if there are death germs on it?" And Dr. Marvin would probably say something about my "phone-cleaning compulsion" being a manifestation of repressed anxiety... But this isn't my therapy session. In all seriousness, that device we carry everywhere—even into our beds—mirrors something troubling about our spiritual lives. There's sin we've grown so accustomed to that we've forgotten it's even there.

How Comfortable Sins Become Invisible

How comfortable have you become with certain sins? Keep in mind, the saints asked this of themselves daily. You might be quick to give an answer, but I hope you won't. Most of us carry some transgression that has settled into our routine, becoming as familiar and unnoticed as the phone in our pocket. We handle it daily, frequently acknowledging its presence, yet blindly dismissing the invisible growth of bacteria that rivals the occupants of a petri dish.

Thomas à Kempis observed this spiritual blindness centuries ago: "We pay no attention to where our affections lie, nor do we deplore the fact that our actions are impure." Like that unseen bacteria multiplying on our phone screens, sin accumulates in the ordinary moments when we're not paying attention.

We might think about cleaning our phones when we drop them or spill something obvious on them. But is that how we approach cleansing before God—only when we feel particularly dirty? This selective awareness reveals a dangerous misconception about holiness.

The Need for Daily Spiritual Cleansing

David understood the need for daily spiritual hygiene: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24). He didn't wait for obvious contamination; He invited God's daily examination.

The Apostle John reminds us that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Notice the present tense—this is ongoing spiritual maintenance, not crisis intervention. John Wesley called this process sanctification: our ongoing, grace-fueled growth in holiness.

Our comfortable sins are often the most dangerous because they've lost their shock value. That habit of gossip, the tendency toward pride, the casual dishonesty, the entertainment choices we make when we're without our spouse or family member—these become invisible to us precisely because they're so familiar.

Jesus warned about this spiritual blindness: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3). The plank becomes invisible through proximity and time.

Just as we wouldn't eat with unwashed hands, we shouldn't approach God with unexamined

hearts (Luke 18:9-14). The call to holiness isn't about perfection—it's about ongoing awareness and intentional cleansing.

Daily Practice: Each morning, before checking your phone, ask God to reveal any comfortable sins that have become routine in your life. Confess what He brings to mind, trusting in His faithful forgiveness. Let your phone become a daily reminder that cleansing should be regular, not occasional.