Wash It Away

A sudden rain came down a few days ago, that for all its brevity could be called a gully washer.  I was inside, and though I paused to admire the actual sheeting of rain that blocked my view to see across the street, I did not really think much about the outside effects.  Later that day, I walked to my car to head home.  The rain had stopped and it was nicely cool and fresh outside.  I noticed that there were brown lines around cars, where the rain had washed cars and removed the layers of dirt.  Outlines now existed around cars, and in parking spots where cars were once parked.  My car shined quite nicely in the sun, looking clean and sparkly.  The remnants the rain left were not on my car, but in a car sized dirt outline

As I got in the car, and headed home, it struck me that the car could not wash itself.  There had to be an outside source to remove the dirt.  In much the same way, the sins that accumulate on, around, and in me are also something I cannot remove.  Jesus, in much the same way, performed an act that worked like that gully washer.  He shed his blood and died for my sins, in essence removing them by the sacrifice of love.  What left was a bright and shiny forgiveness of my sins and your sins in the person of me and other followers of Christ, and that human size dirt outline you see there on the ground, that is the sin that is no longer mine to pick-up. 

Why? That is one of my favorite questions.  I think it is important to understand why things happen or don’t happen certain ways.  Why would a perfect God do something to even bother with the messiness of people?  Love.  God loves us so much that He gave us his one and only Son.  We in turn, if we believe in him, we are given eternal life.  Because, the Son (Jesus) did not come to condemn the messy structure we call humanity, but to save us instead.  I accepted that Love.  I hope you do too.  

Why

   There is a question that has probably been asked in every language, every day of every year. Why do bad things happen? I could give you the simplistic answer – sin. Okay, so that’s correct, but why? An age old question, and I can’t answer it. Sorry, that’s right, but the why will have to remain unresolved for now.

   But, I came across Psalm 169 and it hit me that though some of these why’s will be wait till heaven to answer questions, it does speak to an answer. Let me first say that the psalmist was someone who loved God’s law and understood how it was not a punishment but a protection. So, with that in mind...
   “Do good to your servant according to your word, O Lord. Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”
   These are verses 65-72 in Psalm 119. It struck me that the author was thanking God for affliction. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.” “It is good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” Maybe this is part of the not so simple answer. When things are good and uncomplicated, it is easy to simply forget to put the effort into learning about and paying attention to our relationship with Him.
   I’ll be honest, I don’t often think of affliction in the form of any type of suffering, burdens, hardships, pains, troubles, misery, or misfortunes as a good thing. I may even be the person in the minute who is asking why. Except normally it’s a capital Why because it’s a loud conversation between God and I. But, what a perception shift from the norm! Affliction is not meant to hurt me but to train, teach, and help. Like a sheepdog guiding the wayward sheep back, the sheep doesn’t appreciate the steering, but how happy it is to see the fellow herd members and be home. So, maybe that’s a partial and short answer to the why.

Dropping the Cart and Walking Away

   Ever wonder why habits are hard to break or new ones are hard to get in place? I don’t know about you, but I think about and plan on making changes and then… well, I’ll be trying again tomorrow. These habits and choices, they can become things we pull along behind us and yoked to us. Ever seen a yoke or the cart that it can pull? It sits on the pulling animal, and they use their muscle power to pull the weight behind them.

   As you might imagine, the heavier the cart, the more it slows me down. Freedom is sought, bought, wanted, looked for, and many times given up. What kind of freedom? Freedom from our sins. The yuck we put in the cart. What is sin? Sin is something that goes against the law, a commitment of something against moral or ethical codes. So, that could be something relatively simple, like speeding, or more systemic, like lying. Imagine sin as being the dung, you know the animal droppings that fall and smell and are yucky. I don’t want to step in this stuff, let alone pull it!
   “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5) Standing firm, we make choices to break the tie to the dung cart. Stand firm! Don’t pull the yuck, and then don’t pick it back up again.

Pain of Freedom

   In our world of I can do it without any help, thank you very much, we often assume that freedom means a release of pain. Freedom seems to be seen as something which lets you be carefree and without any sticky and messy attachments. But freedom can be something that is quite painful. I heard the other day how Frederick Douglass seriously considered staying in a life of slavery because the transition to freedom was going to be so painful. He was going to have to say good-bye to dear friends and family and venture into a new life. Freedom awaited him, but so did pain, and this led him to put off the decision to leave a while longer. Imagine the world without Frederick Douglass, if he had not taken his place in the use of his gifts and been instrumental as an abolitionist. Douglass wrote upon leaving, “‘A new world had opened upon me.’ ‘Anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted, but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil.’”

   We can learn from this that when we move from the slavery of sin to the freedom of righteousness that it may be a difficult, painful, and wonderful thing.

Splinter

About a week ago, I felt the need to pray once again, Lord change me. It’s a prayer that focuses like a laser beam on my own heart and life. Finishing up reading in Isaiah, finishing up a book about God answering prayer, I was hearing repent and restoration over and over. What was it in me, in my life that I needed to address?

Ever seen a child with a splinter in their finger? They will quite often take off across the room, yard, house, to avoid having the splinter removed. It will hurt to have it removed, the pain from it being infected will be worse. I think that admitting sin and then asking for forgiveness can be kind of like that splinter. At least it was for me this week. Mulling this over, wrestling with it, asking and seeking after God, I asked Him to change me and grow me. What I found was that I needed to first ask for forgiveness of God, where I was holding a splinter of sin and trying to just ignore it. The word malice came up. Malice? That has such a Hollywood dark flavor to it. Malice – as in wickedness and spite? Surely not!  Pride? I thought I had addressed this hurt long before. Still, a splinter remained and I needed to let God remove it. Once that was done, then that left a hole.
What now God? Amazingly enough, the book I had already been reading and the verses I had been leading up to led me to this very time. God’s timing is so perfect. The hole that is left when we ask for the sin to be removed, when we repent , can also be filled by God! He will not leave us with an open wound that just anything can go and get stuck in. I was amazed at the peace and relinquishment I have had.

By preparing me for this week, by insisting that I read these things, I have found that splinter removed. Restoration to God by God, starting with God urging me to get better – what an amazing God we serve!

Acts 3: 19-20 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus."