Love to hear from and know who is listening
My wife and I share many household tasks. My wife does the laundry, cleans the house and we both cook meals. The only difference is when I cook, she does the dishes and when she cooks, she does the dishes. Don't know how it works out like that but is always does. On the other hand I take care of servicing the vehicles and mowing the yard, because I am confident Joyce could not mow the grass correctly, or at least not the way I want it done. It is also my job to get rid of the garbage. Since we live in the country, I have a burn bin and periodically I have to dump the trash cans into the bin and set it on fire. There is nothing more disgusting then dumping the trash can on a hot summer day and having trash can juice dribble out of the can onto your pants or shoes. Once in a while when it is really hot and I have left the trash to accumulate a little longer than normal, the trash can will have maggots in it. They are disgusting and repulsive little creatures and so I cover them with a little used motor oil and diesel fuel and then I set them on fire. I probably use a little more fuel than usual because I want nothing to do with the disgusting little creatures I want them gone as soon as possible.
That’s how God feels about our sins: Repulsive!!! Disgusting!!! We treat sin like it’s not really that bad. Maybe it’s more like regular old household garbage. You can let it pile up for a while, right? Wait until it stinks. Wait until the can gets completely full, then pack a few more things in it, then finally think about doing something about it. Isn’t that our attitude with sin? It isn’t that bad. A few sins here and there aren’t that big of a deal! But to God they stink to high heaven! Our sin is like a garbage can full of maggots. God can’t stand it! God knows our sins. He can see all the maggots crawling around and in our hearts and in our lives. We deserve God’s anger and wrath! We deserve to have God get rid of us. Our hearts convict us. God’s Word convicts us! We need someone to take our garbage out. How? Who can take out our garbage? Jesus. Jesus put himself in our place. Jesus took on himself all our sins. When Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened,” in Matthew 11:28, he wasn’t just talking about us being tired. He took onto himself our guilt and the burdens or our sins, and He took them to the cross. He took them away. God doesn’t overlook sin. God doesn’t say, “Hey, no big deal!” God forgives sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Whatever sins you’ve committed, Jesus has taken our garbage out. Whatever junk is weighing you down from the past, Jesus has taken our garbage out. Whatever smells from your past seem to cling to you, Jesus has taken the garbage out. Jesus has taken your sins away!
Psalm 103:12 ESV as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As Christians we should never be content to live in our sin. Some people use God’s name in vain in almost every phrase. “Oh my God.” As if God were nothing. Over and over again. But they go to church! Two men refuse to talk to each other. They can’t stand each other. But they go to church! Being a Christian doesn’t mean we have an excuse to sin more. It means Christ’s love compels us to turn away from sin. This “getting rid of sin” is an always thing. Like the garbage that needs to be taken out every day. Christ’s forgiveness doesn’t make sin okay. Christ’s forgiveness is what motivates us even more to rid sin in our lives. Give God your Garbage!!!
