The following parable should help you to understand. A man was hiking on a steep mountain the other day when a tiny pebble about the size of a grape nut kicked up and landed in the heel of his boot. At first the pebble was barely noticeable, so he kept going. Then it began to be more and more noticeable and started hurting badly until eventually the pain subsided and his heel was numb. When he got home from the hike, his heel was bleeding, and it took a while for his foot to recover. In fact for the next few weeks whenever he hiked the wound reopened. If he would have stopped and taken the pebble out right away, this would not have happened.

How often do we do this in our own lives? Something that seems to not be a big deal we let stay. Then it becomes bigger and bigger, brings pain, and causes problems even after the thing is removed.