Have you ever stepped in dog poop? If you’ve owned a dog or gone to someone’s house that has a dog, you know to watch out for stinky treasures in the yard.
If you happen to be unfortunate enough to step in a yucky spot, you will spend the next while working to get that yucky stuff off your shoes. The worst is when you step in dog poop without knowing, and then track it somewhere, like your house or your car. Then you smell it and it’s too late — it’s now all over everything.
There is a hilarious story of an electric vacuum, a Roomba, that accidentally swept over some dog poop during the night and proceeded to smear it all over the living room floor. The poor vacuum didn't know it was yucky and covered in poop, so it spread it all over everything before finishing its cycle of cleaning for the night.
The poor husband found the mess when he walked into the living room and felt grittiness under his feet and discovered, to his horror, the reality of what the Roomba had done. He then detailed the work he did while trying to clean everything up. You can find the full story at scarymommy.com/roomba-meets-pile-of-poop-jesse-newton.
This might seem like a very strange topic for a Gleaner article, or anything related to spiritual matters. But it really isn’t so strange. The reality is that in our own lives, we often live with a rather large amount of yuck.
Scripture tells us in Rom. 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We are all a mess, and on our own we have no hope of cleaning ourselves up. Sin begins to cover us, and either that drives us towards Christ or it causes us to become nose blind to the yuck in our lives and we turn from Christ.
God never changes. Mal. 3:6 tells us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God doesn't change depending on the person. He doesn't treat one person badly to turn them from Him, and one person nicely to draw them to Him. Rather, He desires that all would come to Him and be saved.
The mere presence of God creates two different reactions in people’s lives: to turn to Him or to turn away and not listen. The same sun that hardens clay also melts butter. Our reaction to God dictates our future with Him. He doesn’t force us into a relationship with Him, and He doesn’t force us to be made clean.
It’s our choice, whether to come to God or to turn from Him. If we decide to come to God, He promises to help us. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Sin makes us a mess; we have yucky stuff all over us. We stink! And often — like the Roomba — we go around thinking we are just fine, acting like nothing is the matter, all the while leaving a trail of yuck and stink behind us. But we don’t have to live that way, we have a chance to be made clean, to be washed and renewed and to be made like new again.
We have a loving God, a God of the second chance, a God that wants to clean us up and get rid of all the gross and yucky things in our lives. He promises that if we come to Him and genuinely want His power in our lives, He will make us clean and help us start over. This is an amazing God, one that I am truly grateful for.
I pray that you will seek God in your life and let Him truly clean you up and help you get started on a life that is filled with His redeeming power.
