Pack Rat
I can easily become a pack rat. Some might say that I already am. I'm not like the hoarders you see on television; I couldn't stand that level of clutter. So you might say I'm a mid-level pack rat. I collect things, and I keep things that have any sort of sentimental value. And so every time we've moved, I've had the excuse of "not enough time" to just keep everything. Just throw it in a box, and we'll sort it out later. Except we never do.
But this time is different.
This time, I've had more than enough time to sort through things and to get rid of things we no longer have a use for. This time, I've had a rummage sale eager to receive items that we no longer have a use for and a city-wide recycling program willing to take things that no one has any use for anymore. I have no excuses.
That doesn't mean it's been easy.
Just this morning, I had two bags of books I needed to get rid of. They've sat in the house for quite a while and I've sorted through them numerous times. Books are especially hard for me to get rid of, and some of these particular books come from my childhood. Sentimental value, I tell you. Never mind the fact that they are unusable anymore. Many of them have been read and re-read and abused and loved so much that they are falling apart. Some are missing pages. But that doesn't matter. I can still remember reading some of them when I was a kid. Couldn't I just save them for my hoped-for grandchildren someday?
No. I have to tell myself no. They are so beat up they won't make the trip. And even this morning, as I pulled up alongside the book recycling bin, I almost talked myself out of putting these books in there. I had to just not look at them again, make the decision and toss them into the bin. No going back. No more pack rat.
As I drove away, the thought hit me: why can't I do that with the persistent sin in my life? The author of the letter to the Hebrews calls it the "sin that so easily entangles," or, in the King James Version, the "besetting sin" (Hebrews 12:1). We all have it. One or more, usually more. It's the greed, the envy, the lust, the anger...it's the thing that keeps poking its head back into our lives. We pray about it at the altar, we give it to Jesus, we feel good about that, and then, BAM! We get home and it's right there in the car with us. "I thought I left you at church," you say. "You did. But I caught up with you. Because you really didn't mean to leave me behind. You like having me around."
Don't you wish it were as easy to get rid of that entangling sin as it is to get rid of the pack rat stuff we own? But instead, we store sins up like a pack rat and allow them to live in the dark corners of our lives, rent free. No one may even know they are there, but we do. They call to us in the difficult times; they threaten us in the good times. I wish there were a trash bin (not a recycle bin—I don't want them coming back in any form!) to throw them in and be done with.
But in many respects, it's not that easy. On the other hand, it is. Jesus already offers to take those sins from us, to help us stop being a spiritual pack rat. Our challenge is to give them to him and leave them with him. To not look back. To not grab them back out of his hands. To allow God to throw them into the deepest sea, as he has promised to do (Micah 7:19). The question is whether or not we're willing to stop being a spiritual pack rat. Are you willing to throw all those things away?
Why not do it today?
But this time is different.
This time, I've had more than enough time to sort through things and to get rid of things we no longer have a use for. This time, I've had a rummage sale eager to receive items that we no longer have a use for and a city-wide recycling program willing to take things that no one has any use for anymore. I have no excuses.
That doesn't mean it's been easy.
Just this morning, I had two bags of books I needed to get rid of. They've sat in the house for quite a while and I've sorted through them numerous times. Books are especially hard for me to get rid of, and some of these particular books come from my childhood. Sentimental value, I tell you. Never mind the fact that they are unusable anymore. Many of them have been read and re-read and abused and loved so much that they are falling apart. Some are missing pages. But that doesn't matter. I can still remember reading some of them when I was a kid. Couldn't I just save them for my hoped-for grandchildren someday?
No. I have to tell myself no. They are so beat up they won't make the trip. And even this morning, as I pulled up alongside the book recycling bin, I almost talked myself out of putting these books in there. I had to just not look at them again, make the decision and toss them into the bin. No going back. No more pack rat.
As I drove away, the thought hit me: why can't I do that with the persistent sin in my life? The author of the letter to the Hebrews calls it the "sin that so easily entangles," or, in the King James Version, the "besetting sin" (Hebrews 12:1). We all have it. One or more, usually more. It's the greed, the envy, the lust, the anger...it's the thing that keeps poking its head back into our lives. We pray about it at the altar, we give it to Jesus, we feel good about that, and then, BAM! We get home and it's right there in the car with us. "I thought I left you at church," you say. "You did. But I caught up with you. Because you really didn't mean to leave me behind. You like having me around."
Don't you wish it were as easy to get rid of that entangling sin as it is to get rid of the pack rat stuff we own? But instead, we store sins up like a pack rat and allow them to live in the dark corners of our lives, rent free. No one may even know they are there, but we do. They call to us in the difficult times; they threaten us in the good times. I wish there were a trash bin (not a recycle bin—I don't want them coming back in any form!) to throw them in and be done with.
But in many respects, it's not that easy. On the other hand, it is. Jesus already offers to take those sins from us, to help us stop being a spiritual pack rat. Our challenge is to give them to him and leave them with him. To not look back. To not grab them back out of his hands. To allow God to throw them into the deepest sea, as he has promised to do (Micah 7:19). The question is whether or not we're willing to stop being a spiritual pack rat. Are you willing to throw all those things away?
Why not do it today?
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