Yes that is actually the topic for the day. How is it that the thing that cleans us best (soap) is the same thing that makes some of the ugliest, hardest to remove dirt in the bathtub (soap scum)? And if you do begin to get some of that flaky, grayish-white stuff removed as you scrub your knuckles off, but do not get it all, things look even worse. How many times have I looked down, arms aching and out of breath, only to find white lines down the sides instead of a completely white tub, and had to start yet again? Not just anything will remove soap scum.
Which made me sit and think awhile and yes, there may even be a spiritual application to soap scum! Jesus told a parable about a sower. Some of the seeds which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. Luke 8:14
When we read that parable we tend to think that all the “other grounds” besides the good ground are wicked things. Not so here. The cares of life can be anything from worrying about paying the bills to becoming workaholics. Riches, though dangerous, are not necessarily sinful. Pleasures can be hobbies and entertainment. None of these things is inherently sinful, in fact, they can be therapeutic when we need rest or when our children need our attention on a one-on-one level. They can build relationships with brethren. They can establish bonds with neighbors who we might then be able to teach. They can support our families. BUT------
If those things are not managed wisely, they can choke out the Word. They can keep us from prayer and meditation, from study time, from extra time in the Word offered by the elders in the way of classes, lectures, and gospel meetings. No, you may not be actively sinning, but are you neglecting God in other ways? Are you choking Him out of your life?
These are the hardest things to “weed out” precisely because they are not wrong. Consider this: don’t you as a parent look out for your child by limiting the things--the perfectly good things--he becomes involved in? I hope you do. No child should be robbed of his childhood by a parent who overschedules him with every activity he can find in an effort to offer him “enrichment.” As a piano teacher I saw too many of my students nearly fall asleep on the bench because they were too tired—even 6 year olds! More than once I told a parent that his child was not making the progress he should because he did not have the time to practice. He might as well quit lessons—he certainly needed to drop out of something! I even had some parents learn that the hard way when a child had what we called in the old days a “nervous breakdown.”
Your children learn it from you. Are you too busy to study your Bible in the evening? Are you too busy to visit the sick and the widows? Are you too busy to attend an extra Bible class? Then something needs to go. The cares and pleasures of your life are choking out the Word.
This morning walk into your bathroom and look at the tub. Remind yourself that even good things can produce bad consequences. All that sudsy, good-smelling soap we use in the shower can leave an ugly scum that needs to be removed before we can even claim that our bathroom is clean. The same thing is true of your life.
Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:15-17
Dene Ward
Which made me sit and think awhile and yes, there may even be a spiritual application to soap scum! Jesus told a parable about a sower. Some of the seeds which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. Luke 8:14
When we read that parable we tend to think that all the “other grounds” besides the good ground are wicked things. Not so here. The cares of life can be anything from worrying about paying the bills to becoming workaholics. Riches, though dangerous, are not necessarily sinful. Pleasures can be hobbies and entertainment. None of these things is inherently sinful, in fact, they can be therapeutic when we need rest or when our children need our attention on a one-on-one level. They can build relationships with brethren. They can establish bonds with neighbors who we might then be able to teach. They can support our families. BUT------
If those things are not managed wisely, they can choke out the Word. They can keep us from prayer and meditation, from study time, from extra time in the Word offered by the elders in the way of classes, lectures, and gospel meetings. No, you may not be actively sinning, but are you neglecting God in other ways? Are you choking Him out of your life?
These are the hardest things to “weed out” precisely because they are not wrong. Consider this: don’t you as a parent look out for your child by limiting the things--the perfectly good things--he becomes involved in? I hope you do. No child should be robbed of his childhood by a parent who overschedules him with every activity he can find in an effort to offer him “enrichment.” As a piano teacher I saw too many of my students nearly fall asleep on the bench because they were too tired—even 6 year olds! More than once I told a parent that his child was not making the progress he should because he did not have the time to practice. He might as well quit lessons—he certainly needed to drop out of something! I even had some parents learn that the hard way when a child had what we called in the old days a “nervous breakdown.”
Your children learn it from you. Are you too busy to study your Bible in the evening? Are you too busy to visit the sick and the widows? Are you too busy to attend an extra Bible class? Then something needs to go. The cares and pleasures of your life are choking out the Word.
This morning walk into your bathroom and look at the tub. Remind yourself that even good things can produce bad consequences. All that sudsy, good-smelling soap we use in the shower can leave an ugly scum that needs to be removed before we can even claim that our bathroom is clean. The same thing is true of your life.
Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:15-17
Dene Ward
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