Vacuum Visions

One thing I find interesting about Jesus is that He used pictures and examples of everyday things to reveal deeper truths.  To the farmers and fishermen that followed Him, He talked of seeds and wheat and nets and waves.  I was reminded recently of an everyday item that the Lord used to teach me something.  Nothing so romantic or even natural as waves or seeds, but rather a typical household appliance:  A vacuum cleaner.  The Lord has actually used this humble tool not once, but twice to help me see how His Holy Spirit works, and this is the tale of the second lesson.

I am on the cleaning team at my church, which, unsurprisingly, involves vacuuming.  We have a nice, self-propelled vacuum which usually works easily and effectively.  You turn it on, push it around, and it picks up dirt and debris from the carpet.  A few weeks ago I was vacuuming and noticing that it didn't seem to be working all that well.  I checked the bag; fine.  Over the years of being on the cleaning team, I have learned that vacuums get clogged (the first Holy Spirit lesson, for another day), and unclogging them involves nasty dirt and hair and mess.  I'm not fond of nasty dirt, hair, or mess.  So, I just kept vacuuming, persuading myself that it was just me and the vacuum was fine.

I vacuumed my area, and then I was ready to move on to mopping.  My cleaning partner took the vacuum to finish another area.  She remarked that it wasn't working very well.  I said, "Yeah, you're right, I think maybe it's clogged.  We should probably take it outside and look at it.  I do know how to unhook things so we can check."  So, we did, it was, and after I pulled the nasty dirt, hair, and mess out of the hose, viola, vacuum cleaner worked as intended.  It took all of five minutes to accomplish the change.

Sometimes my life is like a clogged vacuum cleaner.  I notice that I'm not doing very well at staying peaceful, or having faith, or serving cheerfully.  "Hmm," I think, "maybe there is something in between God and me."  And there probably is.  But taking time to sit down with the Lord and pray it through and figure it out and allow the Holy Spirit to clean out the nasty hurt, unforgiveness, or other mess is not something I enjoy.  At all.  So I just reason to myself that it's nothing and I'm really fine.  Until finally one of my partners in the Christian life or the Lord Himself clearly points out that my current approach isn't working.   

So, I overcome my dread and sit myself down on the couch to open up my heart to God to unclog whatever junk has come between us.  It's not always a five minute fix, but it is never as horrible as I have imagined before I get started, and I'm always glad that I did it.  Every single time I tell myself that I should let God deal with me before it gets to that point, and yet. . . I still avoid it.  Hopefully this recent reminder will spur me on to be more timely in allowing the Lord to clean out my clogs.

Loosening the Dirt

In Luke 13, Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree that is not producing fruit. The owner of the fig tree wants to cut it down because, for three years, the tree has been barren. The vinedresser, though, says in verse eight:

And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it . . . '

The point of the parable, according to my Bible, is to show that the Jews were not receiving the blessing of God because they were not acknowledging the prophets or Jesus (my paraphrase). The end of the parable is not so good, because it is assumed that the tree will not have fruit the next year, either.

What I am thinking about this morning is the process of "digging around" the roots of the plant. The idea was to loosen the dirt around the roots so that water could get in and nourish the plant. I think the Lord does that in our lives. We have places that are tightly packed with junk we are holding onto--fear, sin, shame--and He needs to loosen that soil so that His love and forgiveness can seep into our hearts.

I don't think the plant probably likes this--it feels all secure and safe in its bundle of roots and tightly packed soil, and then comes God, poking and prodding and digging. . . I know I have felt that way before--there are moments when I don't want the Lord digging around in my life, pulling things out and loosening things up so that I will have to let go and deal with them. However, that's part of the growth process.

I do like the picture of the water of God's love and forgiveness flowing freely around the roots of my heart and life. May I have the faith to trust that the digging will yield fruit. . .

It's in There

One of the things that I like about reading the Bible is when God reveals both the depth of His Word and the depth of my pride by showing me a verse that I would swear to you was not in that chapter the last time I read it. As if I could remember every verse in the book!

Today's surprise was in Matthew 13:51-52, when Jesus is speaking to the disciples after explaining several parables to them:

"Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

Never have I noticed the last part of the verse, about bringing out "what is new and what is old", which the notes in my Bible explain as understanding how the new teachings of Jesus fit with the Old Testament teachings. As judging from my last post, I would be grateful for the ability to synthesize the Old Testament with the New Testament. What did the disciples to do earn the compliment? They came and asked Jesus to explain the parables to them. . . Ah. . .