One of my desires is to have a pure heart. So periodically I find myself asking God to search my heart and show me what needs to be discarded. Has pride crept in? Selfishness? Unforgiveness? If so, repentance sweeps it away, and I ask God to fill the void with the opposite (humility, selflessness, forgiveness).Sometimes a treat can seem very appealing (the latest movie release, a bestselling book), but when scrutinized through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, turns out to be a poisoned cookie (see the last post) or a Trojan horse - innocent in appearance but disguising a trap.
The news has recently alerted us that certain forms of peanut butter and products containing them are contaminated with a potentially fatal bacterium called salmonella. Hundreds of consumers have become ill after eating the tainted peanut butter, and a few have died. Stores have been tossing the peanut butter products and consumers have followed suit.
This past week we have been receiving envelopes in the mail marked ‘important tax return document enclosed’. I file them in our 2008 tax file until all have been collected and it’s time to prepare for April 15th. In that file folder I keep a photocopy of an article that details which tax documents to keep and for how long. After so many years, one is free to shred check stubs and receipts without fear of reprisal if audited by the IRS.
There is another file, one that no one sees…except the Holy Spirit. Although a brain surgeon can not find it, it lies hidden in our gray matter somewhere. It’s not stored on a CD or a DVD, although for some people it plays back over and over as if it were. It’s a record; a record of wrongs. Most of us can remember when so and so did such and such to us. Someone’s hurtful comments singed our ears. A close friend betrayed us. Someone we trusted gossiped behind our backs. We’ve all been there. We’ve probably all done something similar ourselves at one time or another. Into our mental file go the memories of wrongs, like records in a juke box. The next time we think about that person, or see the person, an invisible finger presses B 17 and it plays back the hurt as if it were yesterday’s hit song.
May I suggest that it’s time to toss the poison cookies, toss the peanut butter and toss the files? Those past hurts aren’t golden oldies, they’re reconstituted unforgiveness that eventually turns into bitterness and sours not only the relationship but our hearts as well. I know, I know. You’re saying, “It’s easy for her to spout forgiveness. She hasn’t experienced what I’ve been through.” You’re correct. But I have had my own garbage to throw out, and if left untouched, boy does it smell up my life.
Colossians 3:12-13 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Matthew 6:14-15 is sobering and deserves our attention. Jesus said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Ouch. I sure want God to forgive me when I goof up. Don’t you? Well, let’s give the same forgiveness to our fellow sojourners when they blow it, too.
Romans 3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
I John 1:9-10 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
After we get rid of the peanut products, let’s toss the old records. Let’s forgive. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and see if some spring cleaning is in order. Let's invite God into those hurts and allow Him to heal them (in some cases professional or pastoral counseling may be needed). We are the ones who will benefit from the clean up. God’s forgiveness is life restoring and a source of soul peace.
Race you to the shredder!
