This morning in a prayer group we were praying about “Take out the trash.” So what exactly does that look like? Well, I know what my trash is for the most part and each of ours will be a bit different because we are different people. We all have trash in our life. Some of us are more than others for sure…but it all needs dealt with and taken out.
Trash happens, doesn’t it? Let’s look at a physical trash can. Did you ever see so much garbage even in a day get dumped into a trash can? I remember as a child that we use to separate things and then burn up the regular trash. We had like a BBQ in the back that we would take the regular trash and burn it. The garbage went to another place and it was disgusting, and we had like what we would call today a recyclable bin. Well, the trash in our life needs to be taken out and dumped as well. If we don’t deal with it all it does is grow and get worse and more smelly. It always happens the same way. It starts so slowly that it is barely noticeable.
Sometimes we think, “Oh, it’s not so bad…I don’t have to take it out yet.” But…it grows doesn’t it pretty soon it is running over and it is smelly and yucky. No, it needs to be dealt with each day so that it doesn’t stink. Can you even imagine what God sees about our trash? He is trying to help us and we think we are okay so we don’t want to deal with it. After all, isn’t God a loving God? Why yes, He is…but He is telling us to take the garbage of our life out, deal with it, and burn it up.
I need to empty that, I think. But not right now. I’ll do it later. When is it later for you?
When we don’t deal with the trash of our life the pile grows so big it is hard to carry to the dump. But somehow, we justify our junk and sit back and watch it grow. At some point though that pile of garbage will overflow, and it won’t be a pretty sight. Do you have a to-do list somewhere that at some point you will get up and carry that trash to the garbage bin? How many times have you done that? Isn’t it time to get rid of the garbage? What is more important to you than taking all the garbage out of your life and getting right with God? Don’t you yet smell the stench of your garbage in your life? If we empty our trash daily it won’t overflow and fall on the ground and stink to others either. It is much easier to keep something clean than to let it go and then try to clean it up.
Our life is like a trash can! Yes, it is. We put things in our trash all day, all the time, and some of the stuff we place there stinks. Instead of dealing with it and taking it to the garbage, we hold onto it until it overflows with gook. Well, my friend, it is time to empty your trash can.
Sin is trash. It needs to be emptied of our life. We need to deal with every scrap of our sin and ask God to burn it all up so we can get back right with Him. He doesn’t like our garbage!!! We have so many bad habits in our life and they add up. We have a little sin here, a little sin there, and pretty soon our trash bin is full of disgusting sins, and to God it out and out stinks!
Sin is not usually a jump in there thing….it starts slowly for the most part. Well, all those little sins do add up in our lives and what they do is destroy our relationship with God. I don’t want that and if you are a born-again believer then you should not want that either.
I was thinking about what we watch on TV or at the movies. Hasn’t it gotten really bad? Can you watch something that doesn’t put gays kissing, bad language, rotten kids, marriages that are being destroyed, murders, rapes, and so on? Do you ever feel guilty about something you saw at the movies or on TV? Why did you feel that way? Did you feel guilt for watching it or thinking it is only a movie…not real? Well, to many these things are very real and hurtful. Then what about eventually you do not think it is bad anymore? Do you know the devil loves it when we open the door to sin? It is time to take out the trash. Think about this for a moment….if Jesus were to knock on your door and want to come in would you still watch what you were watching? Why? Because deep down inside you know God would not approve of it so why do you do it now? Do you know God is in your living room seeing what you watch and do, and He is at the movies with you, and He is with you when you are hanging with your friends as well? He knows everything. So stop doing these things and ask God to help you. Stop opening the door to the enemy. Don’t think you can ever justify your bad behavior. No matter how big or small it is…stop!
Each morning get up and ask God if there is anything in you that you need to deal with and deal with it. Don’t let that account with God even begin to grow. Immediately if you sin…confess it to God and deal with it. When we allow the sins to grow (our trash) they really can spiral out of control.
The book of Proverbs warns us, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
I can’t speak for you but I don’t want to conceal (or think I can) any sin from God. I want to have God’s mercy and He has told me how. Confess my sins and change my ways.
Do you realize that when you keep sinning in life what happens is that you become desensitized? What I mean is like this example: Growing up we did have tv…black and white in this tiny little box we all sat around. What we saw were things like westerns, Lucy, etc…but did you know that Lucy and Ricky never slept in the same bed. Western people got shot but they were not bloody, Kids talked about their parents and elders, they wore decent clothes to school, you could pray at school, and kids went out and played. Then little by little things crept in…now it is disgusting what we see and I don’t have to go there here…because you know what is going on. I’ll leave this right here because I am disgusted by what I see nowadays. With each thing we allow…we allow more. With each sin we do…we start to do more. Some people might even tell you that it’s not so bad because look at what so and so did. God’s okay with it…NO. God is not okay with sin no matter how small you see it in your own eyes.
So what do we do? We go to God. We lay our trash out for Him to see and we talk to Him about it. What a mess right? How full is our trash can? If what we do in life doesn’t line up with what God says…it needs to be trashed from our life. We must deal with the trash and ask God to super clean us up so we get back on the right road in life.
Even if you don’t think so…your sin affects other people, but even more, it affects our relationship with God.
The Bible tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Listen carefully people…God loves us. He wants a relationship with us. He wants us in heaven with Him. He wants our life clean of debris. Truly people we can turn our life around by going to God and confessing our sins and asking Him to help us. So whatever you are dealing with Go to God. Haven’t you carried your garbage around long enough? Don’t you want a clean vessel? You are the one who must make the choice. No one can do it for you. You deal with it now or you deal with the consequences of not dealing with it at a later date. Don’t think you can live like this and at some later date you go to God…listen carefully. None of us are promised even 5 minutes from now. It is time to get right with God right now while you can for one second after death is one second too late. Let us take the trash to God and get a clean vessel right now.