Yesterday my son and I got on the roof to clean out the gutters. I was actually looking forward to it because I got to use my power washer. The gun-shaped wand makes it seem like I am fighting some kind of war. The enemy is hunkered down and I have to blast him out–on the roof. Does it get any better as far as chores are concerned?
The down-side to my cleaning method, however, is that once I blast the junk that is in my gutters out of my gutters it goes everywhere else. So in the process of bringing whiteness back and restoring proper water flow in my rear gutters, I made a mess of my back patio. Cleaning that mess, curiously, was not as fun.
I did find a metaphor, though, while I was blasting away. (Preachers always look for metaphors. It’s what we do.) Dirty junk accumulates in our lives. It is inevitable because of the presence of sin in our lives. Were we sinless, there would be no junk. The fact that we still surrender to sin from time-to-time means that junk will attach itself to our lives, and disrupt the proper function of some aspect of our lives. In this case, a dirty gutter means that when the rains come, the water spills over the side instead of being channelled through to the pipe on the side of the house. To continue the metaphor, when the rains of trials or temptations or loss come into my life, impurity will keep me from channeling them properly.
The good news is that I can power-wash my gutters. And spiritually speaking, power-washing the junk out of my life can be just as satisfying–albeit messy. The “washing with water through the Word” (Ephesians 5:26) suggests that by diving into the Bible I can experience a cleansing that restores purity and improves the function of my life. Be warned: cleaning can be messy. Prepare to deal with the junk that is blasted out of your gutters. It will try to land somewhere else you don’t want it. A thorough cleaning takes time and patience.
So if you see something in your life is not working, it may be time for a thorough cleansing. Try a power-wash of Proverbs, or a rinse of Romans, or the cleaning of Colossians.
This was great!