Spring is springing
upon us, slowly but surely. Along with
Spring’s arrival will come the inevitable signs on the boulevards indicating it
is also Garage Sale Season. It’s the
time for Spring cleaning and clearing out. Box stuff up and try and make a buck. So you can buy more stuff.
Personally, I just
don’t enjoy poking through other people’s stuff. As the saying goes, “one man’s
trash is another man’s treasure”. But I feel like I’m pillaging through their property and invading their
personal history as I paw over their stuff. Never mind that they’ve
chosen to put it out there for people to see and also put a price on it.
Don’t get me wrong … I
have a lot of stuff that might be garage-sale worthy. I have a whole basement full of stuff. Do I really need to keep those red and black checkered cropped pants from the ‘80’s that I know are in a box somewhere? I can tell you for sure, I’m not fitting back into those pants anytime soon. Or ever again.
But let it be noted that I am not a hoarder. Just check off the box that says “Procrastinator” beside my name; I can always find something else more
pressing to do than sort through boxes of junk in the basement.
If I were to have a
garage sale and put our stuff out on display for all to see, I would feel so
exposed. “Here’s my stuff! Have a
look! Make me an offer!” And then I expect to feel rejected when people look at the wares I’m peddling and see it for
the junk it really is. Maybe not, but
that’s how I imagine I would feel if I were to ever have a garage sale. I’d probably end up apologizing for the low quality
of my trash and offer to pay people to take it off my hands. Not really a good business model for a garage
sale enterprise hoping to make a few bucks.
I’m pretty sure I’ve also got a lot of emotional junk that I carry around in the basement of my being.
If I would feel exposed and uncomfortable setting out my red and black
checkered pants on a table for sale and for all to see, I am sure the level of shame and emotional distress would be increased if I bared my
soul. My personal insecurity would whisper "Rejected!" in my ear.
I struggle with
forgiveness. I say I have forgiven
people when I have been hurt, but have I really? Do I continue to carry the offense around with
me in my back pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice to endorse my
victimhood? By the same token, where I have wronged others
and asked for forgiveness, why do I feel like my wrongs are perpetually going
to be waved in my face?
What is the measure of
forgiveness? How can I know that I have
forgiven and been forgiven?
I am
certainly no theologian and make no claim to have all, or any, of the answers. I do know that “forgive and forget” is not found
in the Bible. (http://www.gotquestions.org/forgive-forget.html)
But this is what I do
know:
When I confess my sin
before God, He is faithful to forgive me.
Because of His grace extended to me, I am able to extend forgiveness and
grace and love to others. I can only be responsible
for the condition of my own heart and my own relationship with Jesus Christ.
God, in His great mercy, sees all my trash and emotional junk, and because He is God, He loves me anyway. His arms are always open; He will never reject me.
For now those red and
black checked pants will just stay boxed up, unless I decide to re-purpose them
into a throw pillow or two.
Matthew 6:19-21:
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth,
where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and
steal.20 Store your treasures in heaven, where
moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart
will also be.
Romans 4:14-16
14 So then, since we
have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold firmly to what we believe.15 This High Priest
of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we
do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need
it most.
Isaiah 64:5, 6, 8
We are constant
sinners;
how can people like
us be saved?
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.
8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and
you are the potter.
We all are formed by
your hand.
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