This afternoon I spent some time at the Fellowship Center cleaning a popcorn popper in preperation fo CSI: Waynesboro tomorrow. This thing was coated with gooey residue from past use. It amazes me how dirty an item such as this can get if you neglect cleaning it, even after just a few uses. The product we put in the popper is clean, just vegetable oil and popping corn, but the risidual builds up fast.
It reminds me of the way we as Christians can neglect our need for daily cleansing. The bible says we start the Christian life a new creation, forgiven of our sins, cleansed of all the "gooey goop" sin had left behind. Paul says, "you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11) We start our Christian walk clean but then life happens. We are bombarded on every side by temptation, old habits, and new seductions. Soon, like the popcorn popper, through neglect we start to notice a residue. At first we might think it's not that bad and we even justify our slight coating of goop by comparing ourselves with other people. We think, "Hey, I'm not that bad just look at that guy, even his goop has goop."
The problem with thinking like this is that even if our observations are correct and the other guy does have more "build up" than me, I'm still dirty and no excuse in the world is going to cover it up or make it go away. There is only one way to deal with sin in our life and that is to walk daily with Jesus Christ. The apostle John puts it this way, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
The old saying, "Confession is good for the soul," is true.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16
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