Deep-Cleaning

Our pastor preached out of Romans chapter 1 this morning, and although I missed a good portion of his sermon, what I did hear was a blessing and a challenge.

This temple needs some serious deep-cleaning. It is dirty and rank and cobweb-y. Oh, it's a constant battle, those cobwebs. I try to stay ahead of them, batting them down as soon as they appear, but it's tiring, so I take a break. I'll just leave the lights off so I don't see them. Trouble is, when I stop aggressively seeking out and attacking those cobwebs, they multiply. Exponentially.

And I hardly even notice, until God rushes in, carrying a floodlight. I am embarrassed and humiliated. How did His temple get so filthy? The cobwebs are everywhere. I bat wildly at them, offering one pitiful excuse after the next, but it's no use. There's no way I can clean everything up by myself, and besides... He's already seen it.

I'm tempted to run away and hide, but I know that it will only get more foul, more mucky. It's an exhausting and disgusting task: each corner and crack must be searched and scrubbed, and it seems every lone cobweb hides a dozen more.

My only consolation?

I have Help. And He's in the deep-cleaning business.