Sin stinks

Today I did something really dirty- something no one should ever have to do. I cleaned the drain in the bathroom sink. Not the one in the shower no- where there might be chemicals from soap and ok maybe a little hair or something. But no I cleaned the drain where there was a special mixture of toothpaste and hair and honestly I don't know what keeping the entire drain so full, hardly any water could get through.

But the funny thing is that this drain has been pretty dirty for a long time and yet I never paid much attention to it before. In fact it's so easy just to ignore the drain and not really clean it when you clean the other things because you only see the top of it. You don't see what's underneath unless you really pick it up out of the sink.

But man, when the water stops draining through. You realize that you have a BIG problem. That this drain is nasty and that things are stuck into it and that this is a bad, disgusting situation.

I think sin is similar sometimes.

I've heard it say that the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. I also think maybe the pathway to hell doesn't look as scary as we often imagine it. It probably gets a little darker, a little dimmer with each step in. But the entrance, I imagine is finely decorated. Because sometimes let me tell you, sin is appealing to the eye. It's like that fruit. The world tells us it's delicious.

Sometimes my little sins don't even feel like sins- mercy. And after I do them a few times, they definitely don't feel bad. It's so easy to take little tip toes towards the wrong person or motive. And often I don't realize that I'm slowly getting trapped in sin. Until finally, I realize that I've gotten too deep. And the sin quickly blows up and comes to the surface in front of me. And it is a MESS. A dirty, stinky mess. And it is disgusting and I'm embarrassed and I want it cleaned up immediately!

And the great thing about when sin explodes is when our heart experiences remorse. When we finally feel our guilt, and cry out for our need for redemption. Because when we call, He answers. He is faithful to forgive our every sin.

But the part of this story that terrifies me is the fact that every day that I'm brushing my teeth I may be dirtying that drain and clogging it and making it disgusting without even realizing it. The scary part is what if I'm too comfortable sinning. What if I don't have the remorse? What if I don't feel like I'm as bad as a sinner as them? What if I feel like I"m doing good- just living my life disillusioned when I'm really not walking in the right path.

The good thing is, if we live our lives asking God to make us new and cleanse our conscience, He will. EGW writes that "when the heart yields to the influence of the Spirit of God, the conscience will be quickened, and the sinner will discern something of the depth and sacredness of God's holy law.".."The light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world illumines the secret chambers of the soul and the hidden things of darkness are more manifest."

The disgusting thing about sin is that it directly separates us from Christ. Isaiah 59:2 says "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear you." That's powerful. Also if we read in John 4, we have the Samaritan woman that comes to draw water and when Jesus says "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst" she asks for this water. Get right after she asks, Jesus addresses her sin problem. He says call your husband.

Sin hurts others and we must repent our sins to Christ in order to experience eternal life with Him. David writes "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile... Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart Oh God and renew a right spirit within me."

Often we let Satan enslave us to sinful tendencies and we don't even realize what we are doing. But Christ is constantly calling us higher and desires to change our heart. If we are in His word, He will convict us. He has the power to set us free from all sins. What joy we can experience from truly being clean from the inside out!