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Thoughts of...White Carpet
When my wife and I were given this house by the Lord nearly eight years ago, the floor covering was entirely carpet. White carpet. But it looked clean and relatively new.
Very soon after we and our seven children moved in, the carpet changed! It was not white, it was not clean, and it did not look new. We tried cleaning it ourselves. We tried professional carpet cleaners. Nothing helped. The fragile veneer of white cleanliness was soon lost to dinginess in the normal course of living in the house. Cursed carpet!
Had the carpet changed? Not at all. The carpet was, by nature, dirty. Our cleaning attempts touched only the very surface and were insufficient for the “deep cleaning” needed. Any traffic whatsoever and the true nature of the carpet was quickly revealed. We simply could not change its nature.
So we ripped the carpet out (which revealed the depth of its depravity!) and replaced it with a wood flooring. Now, although it becomes the home for “dust bunnies,” the new flooring is easily cleaned and the true nature of the wood flooring is very pleasing and enduring.
Man is like white carpet. Religion is like carpet cleaning.
Due to a dirty choice (, ), man’s nature is dirty (, , , ). We know we are dirty so we try to clean ourselves (, , , ) by making vows “to never do that again” to cover over the stains and spots, by participating in some ritual to rid ourselves of that dirty feeling, or by practicing “self-help” and “self-improvement” routines to become better people. However, in spite of all the good intentions, we soon break our vows, void our rituals, and practice self-destruction by doing something dirty. It’s our nature. No matter how hard we work at it, we cannot get clean. The stains and the spots and the deep dirt are never removed by our own efforts and our nature is always revealed for what it is.
The Lord God our Creator is pure and cannot be in the presence of dirtiness (, , , ). God’s nature is life () but our nature is dirt, which is death (Rom 6:23a). In order to live, we need a new nature, God’s nature. With a supernatural love for us, God came to give His nature and His life to all who would receive Him by faith (, , , , , ).
Only when a man does the work of God () does he get a new nature (, ) pleasing to God (, , ). Why would anyone prefer to be dirty, dingy carpet when they can be clean, beautiful wood? Just give up and let the Home Owner () remodel your life according to His desire (, , ).
Pastor Doug
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