I have a link over on the side to the archives for the Bread (in the Herding Group), but that hasn't been updated since early 2007, because I'm the one who was updating it, and I misplaced the new password from when Blogger made us switch to Google accounts. I came across the password again a couple weeks ago, when I was packing, and I set it aside, but it got put in a box somewhere, so it'll probably be a while before I find it again.
Normally, I don't use this blog for writing about Christian topics. The Bread is my outlet for that side of my life. But since I've been blogging about my move, and today's Bread has something to do with that, I'm posting it here. I hope it gives you a little different perspective on things.
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Philippians 2:5 - 7 “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
Isaiah 64:6 “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”
I moved recently, and one of my tasks in getting the house ready for the new owners was cleaning out the shed. Once I got all my stuff out, it was time to sweep the cement floor.
After six years of living there, the shed had accumulated dirt and bugs and spider webs and empty spider egg sacs and snail poop. I took the big push broom inside, with the sun shining through the open shed door and started to sweep. But the broom only stirred up the filth as a foul dust that hung in the air, lit up by the sun. I couldn’t bear to breathe it, so I’d take a deep breath outside and hold it, step inside, sweep a little, then go back outside to breathe again while the dust settled.
And as I watched the dust, knowing I needed to go back inside, I realized just what our Lord had done. The Father sent His Son to dwell among us in a world more foul to Him than my shed was to me. And when I came to faith in Jesus, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the filthy shed of my heart, working a little at a time to clear away the disgusting habits and rotten thoughts.
The difference is, though, that the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave when my heart is like filthy rags (or dirt). He stays. He works on improving me and making me more and more like Christ. And one day, when my time on earth is over He will set the broom aside and I will be gloriously clean because of the work that He has done in me.
When was the last time you thought about the totality of the sacrifice Jesus made when He came to dwell on earth to save you? May thanksgiving and praise to Him flow from our hearts and our lips because of what He has done for us!
Isaiah 64:6 “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”
I moved recently, and one of my tasks in getting the house ready for the new owners was cleaning out the shed. Once I got all my stuff out, it was time to sweep the cement floor.
After six years of living there, the shed had accumulated dirt and bugs and spider webs and empty spider egg sacs and snail poop. I took the big push broom inside, with the sun shining through the open shed door and started to sweep. But the broom only stirred up the filth as a foul dust that hung in the air, lit up by the sun. I couldn’t bear to breathe it, so I’d take a deep breath outside and hold it, step inside, sweep a little, then go back outside to breathe again while the dust settled.
And as I watched the dust, knowing I needed to go back inside, I realized just what our Lord had done. The Father sent His Son to dwell among us in a world more foul to Him than my shed was to me. And when I came to faith in Jesus, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the filthy shed of my heart, working a little at a time to clear away the disgusting habits and rotten thoughts.
The difference is, though, that the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave when my heart is like filthy rags (or dirt). He stays. He works on improving me and making me more and more like Christ. And one day, when my time on earth is over He will set the broom aside and I will be gloriously clean because of the work that He has done in me.
When was the last time you thought about the totality of the sacrifice Jesus made when He came to dwell on earth to save you? May thanksgiving and praise to Him flow from our hearts and our lips because of what He has done for us!
3 comments:
What an awesome analogy. Thank you for posting it.
Very comforting. In our failures it's east to forget that we're not alone in this.
Thanks.
Great job, Skye.
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