January 21, 2024
Our congregation’s building was built in the early 70s. I think I was told 1971 by those that helped with the construction. The two bathrooms including the plumbing, located in the church basement, are both original. Our congregation has had intermittent issues with the bathrooms at least since we arrived in 2014. In late October/early November 2023, these plumbing issues became something we needed professional help to resolve. We had our regular, professional handyman come and run a camera down the plumbing to see where the potential clog was located. What he found was both expected and unexpected.
We expected the pipes to show a high level of calcification due to their age. After all the plumbing is original to the building. It was such an issue that it was difficult to get the camera past the first troubling spot, but this was not the clogged area in question. As they got the camera further down the pipe, what the camera hit was roots. This was completely unexpected since the nearest tree old enough to have roots that size is at the entrance to the church driveway. That’s roughly 250 steps from the door to the building! Our handyman came back the next day to run an industrial-sized sewer snake into the pipes to clear some of the debris and allow the bathrooms to continue to work properly.
Our lives are like those pipes. Sin has in some places calcified our hearts. Unfortunately sometimes the calcification is so bad it hardens us to the point where the good news of the gospel has a difficult time affecting godly behaviors, attitudes, and changes in our lives. In times like this it can be difficult even recognizing the refusal to let Jesus play the “sewer snake” role and remove the blockades sin had put up. The real questions at this point are twofold. Why did we not recognize sin’s buildup? Once sin’s buildup became apparent, did we submit to Jesus’ cleansing or deny the need for cleansing all together?
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).
Jesus pulled no punches when dealing with a person’s reaction to light of God. That being said, have we allowed our lives to become so hardened by sin that we no longer even want to come to the Light to seek His help and guidance? Jesus says that those practicing evil fear coming to the Light lest their deeds are seen too easily by others. On the opposite side, those seeking to practice godliness have no fear of coming to the Light. This is not because these people never sin. They do! Instead those practicing godliness KNOW that Jesus is the only one that can ultimately eliminate sin and its effects in their life. And the ones seeking godliness WANT to be cleansed so they can be more like Jesus.
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous 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” (1 John 1:5-10).
Jesus’ mission on earth has long been over. Time has marched on. Yet he only one who can continually cleanse us from sin is the same one that laid His life down nearly two millennia ago only to take it up again three days later—Jesus, the Son of God. The question is whether or not we will be willing to be exposed in His light or continue to hide in the shadows. Only through being exposed in His light can we truly deal with the spiritual calcifications in our hearts. Otherwise our spiritual blockages will continue to worsen to the point of completely hindering the gospel message to flow within our lives.