I have heard this term many times. A husband or wife may say, “Let’s not go there. That will open up ‘a can of worms.'” A parent may say, “I don’t want to open up that ‘can of worms.’ What do they mean?
Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘a can of worms’ as “a situation that causes a lot of problems for you when you start to deal with it.”
People are afraid of opening ‘a can of worms’ for a variety of reasons, and they all stem from keeping what is in the can safely in the can. Maybe the can was opened at one point, and what appeared was dirty, ugly, slimy, and nasty. So, the lid went back on the can and sealed tighter than before. A can of worms. Ugh!
The problem, though, is the worms are still in the can.
Try as you might, the worms will not stay hidden forever, and they certainly won’t remain hidden safely. Many times, it is the things we don’t want to deal with that we need to address.
Solomon mentions in Proverbs 4:23 that we need to guard our hearts with all vigilance.
Matthew 15 records a conversation between Jesus and His disciples. In verse 18, Jesus mentions some things that come out of the heart and defile the man.
I suggest even if the lid is tight on the ‘can of worms,’ if it is in the heart, defilement will come at some point. The lid will not stay on forever. Poison will eat away at it until all that is within comes slithering out. Then watch out. Words will be said, and deeds acted out, and you will think, “Where did that come from?”
It came from ‘a can of worms’ that you ignored.
How much better it is to open the can voluntarily, let the light of the Spirit shine in, allow tears of repentance and forgiveness flow, and experience healing in the soul.
Let me know if I can be of assistance.
You might also like these articles...
The BIBLE
One of the songs I learned growing up in Sunday school was “The BIBLE.” It goes like this: “The BIBLE, yes that’s the Book for me. I stand upon the Word of God, the BIBLE.” When we sang the word “BIBLE,” we would spell it out. It was great fun. The Psalmist had much to…
Are Grandparents Really That Important?
Are grandparents really that important? Grandparents are important because grandchildren are important. A special dynamic only exists between grandparents and grandchildren that does not exist between a parent and child. I have filled the role of child, grandchild, parent, and grandparent. As a child, most of the time, I looked forward to spending time with…
Is Anger Good or Bad?
It’s been said that anger is one of the most fundamental negative emotions. Just hearing the word, most of us immediately think of a negative experience we’ve had with it. We typically don’t like the word and often want to disguise anger by using other words such as annoyed, perturbed, aggravated, peeved, hurt, or frustrated. However, knowing that anger is not necessarily a negative emotion is helpful. Anger can have a very positive function. It’s how we express our anger that makes it negative or positive. God designed anger to have a positive function; we tend to misuse it most of the time. What does God say about this emotion? Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the…