A Place of Grace
Thought of the Week
by Susan
October 8, 2018
(Note: A Place of Grace is published on a weekly basis)
What A Mess!!
I'm sure many of you, if not all, have seen
infomercials. They are commercials on TV that are trying to sell a new product
to make your life easier. They show how things we do everyday are messy,
frustrating, hard to do and backbreaking. The programs overdramatize whatever it
is you're doing, like using liquid bath soap. You squeeze too much out of the
bottle and it goes all over the shower and you, such a waste. My first thought
was that I never use as much as they do and make such a mess, but this is TV and
they want to sell their product. Anyway, if you buy their product, the dispenser
mounts to the wall and with one push of the button you have the perfect amount
of soap, no mess, no waste and no fuss. Another one shows a lady trying to get a
case of bottled water out of the trunk of her car and when she bends over to
lift it out she hurts her back, but if you buy their water container you will
never have to buy bottled water again, no more back pain or water bottles
everywhere.
Then there is the one that shows wet, nasty messes and when you use the
conventional method of clean up, you waste paper towels or make the mess worse.
Of course if you use their product, clean up is a breeze. What was so funny was
they showed how we clean up messes. They put ketchup, mustard and water in a big
puddle on the floor and showed how our normal clean up just smears it around and
takes longer to clean up. If we use their product, it soaks all the mess up in a
couple of moves making our lives easier. Their comment was with our method "of
course you could always push it under the refrigerator." WHAT????? Who would do
that?
Then I thought of us and how sin comes into our lives, what a mess! If we try to
hide it, we aren't fooling anyone but ourselves. If the sin isn't seen by others
then we are okay, we think. Eventually though all that garbage we pushed under
the refrigerator will cause roaches to come and feast and start stinking up the
house. The smell may be faint to start with and we try to mask it with perfume
but the longer and longer the garbage isn't cleaned out the worse the smell
becomes. We need to move the refrigerator away from the wall, clean all the dirt
and grime and garbage out from under it and have the sweet smelling aroma of a
pure, clean house, a pure, clean heart and a pure, clean mind.
Don't shove sin out of the way to deal with another day. Don't shove garbage
into the corners of your heart and mind and say I'll take care of it later.
Later could be too late.
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do
not cast me from Your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me
the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." Psalm
51:1-12 Matthew 23:25
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