This morning I visited the county dump and a few things struck me as I looked around. People seemed to be getting in and getting out as quickly as possible. The dump is not a place for socializing. It's not really a place we want to go. People go there out of necessity.
It smells. It is kind of dirty. It's the place where everyone puts the stuff they don't want.
Many people were wearing gloves. We don't want to get too close if we don't have to.
But if you aren't thorough in cleaning out the junk, you will find something that you don't like in the future. Our junk doesn't go away by itself. It just becomes more of a problem over time. The trash we accidentally leave behind is at best just clutter. And at its worst, the thing can begin to stink up the place.
Sin is a lot like junk. And the dump is a lot like the alter. Sometimes we leave the alter too quickly. There is still stuff hidden in the crevices that we need to find and purge. The job only gets half done. But we are in such a hurry to get in there and get it over with that we miss stuff. This sin then just sits in the dark places in our lives until it begins to smell.
Why do I always feel so embarrassed when I go to the alter? It is kind of the same feeling that I have when I go to the dump. For some reason, I hope that nobody seems me there. But it's not really that big of a deal. Everybody has junk. Everybody needs to go to the alter. Actually, the life of a Christian consists of many moments of leaving our junk at the alter. And if we don't do a thorough job of letting God clean house, we will find that the stuff we overlook only causes a bigger mess in the future.
