Disposable Garbage
by Gayla Baughman

"Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:7)

When I was a child, we lived in the city. We never had the luxury of throwing the scraps to the pigs, or the dogs. We always had to put them in the garbage can. After a big dinner, if the garbage wasn’t taken out, it would really stink! Sometimes it got so bad, we’d have to carry it out before it was full.

I was at my daughter’s house the other day and when we stepped into the kitchen, I could smell that familiar smell. I looked at the garbage can, and behold, it was empty! Both of us have “mega noses”. We can smell something a mile off. Neither of us could rest until we found the source of the smell.

Everything in the kitchen looked great. I had cleaned a few pots and pans from the night before and then cleared our breakfast, washed the dishes and cleaned the countertops until they were spotless white. I was quite proud of my work, and pleased to help out my daughter in the mean-time.  Everything looked great….but smelled awful!

Suddenly it dawned on me…the garbage disposal! We cooked chicken last night and forgot to run the garbage disposal! I pealed an orange and added the pealing to the grinding whur of the garbage disposal. I poured dish detergent down the drain and let it whur some more in an effort to rid the house of the nasty smell.  Finally, the house had a fresh clean smell…it looked clean and smelled clean.

Our lives can be a lot like that. Everything can look good on the outside, but if we have a bad attitude, or we have been offended and don’t take care of it, it will make the whole soul stink.  The stinking attitude won’t go away until we get rid of the garbage that is causing the smell. We have to get rid of offences, hatred, jealousy, rebellion (has God asked you to do something and you refuse to do it? If you did that to your parents, that would be called disobedience. Continue to act that way, and it would be called rebellion). The Holy Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:23 that, “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” What about pride? Maybe you have a problem with covetousness, wanting something that belongs to someone else.

You may not even know what is in your soul’s garbage disposal. Ask the Lord to help you turn on the switch and get rid of it…Connect to the power, the Holy Ghost! He will churn and come alive in your heart today and clean out all that stinky garbage. All you have to do is turn on the garbage disposal and ask God to forgive you of those stinky sins. He will wash them away and help your “temple” or house of God have a fresh clean smell, because all the garbage is gone!

Dear Lord, there are things in my life that need cleaning up. I ask you to come in and forgive me of the sins that will eventually separate me from you. Please wash me today and make my heart clean.