So today I had a surprise. Not a nice surprise.
Quite the opposite of nice. My septic tank was backing up.
I’ll spare you some of the details but let’s just say it wasn’t the kind of smells that you ever want to experience.
For those of you that are on a sewer system and don’t know what I’m talking about, well, God bless you.
But basically a septic tank is where all the disgusting stuff that you flush and never want to see again goes.
Occasionally they get clogged or overloaded and then the stuff you never wanted to see again comes back to visit.
Well, me being the handy guy that (I think) I am, dug up the ground to get to the big concrete access piece that’s in the picture. I had to dig and chisel and dig some more and then I finally got it to move.
Here’s the moment of truth. Rubber boots, rubber gloves, goggles and a respirator on, I lift it off.
Well if I thought it smelled bad before, this stuff was off the charts. Toxic!
This isn’t just waste. It’s aged and fermented waste.
So I cleaned the filter. (Yeah that’s a thing and I’ll leave it to your imagination.)
Well, it was clear that my problem went beyond just that and I quickly realized I needed professional help. This was beyond my skillset and the tools I had available.
So I made a phone call and as we speak my new friend Ramon is speeding over to pump out the tank and take all of that stuff away.
Anyway, all of this reminded me so much of sin.
It’s ugly. It’s gross. It smells. It’s toxic. It causes death.
We dress it up, or push it away, or come up with names for it that make it not sound so bad.
We bury it in the ground and hope that nobody ever sees it.
But we really haven’t dealt with it.
We’ve only put it out of sight, out of mind.
Eventually, it comes bubbling back up to haunt us if we haven’t dealt with it properly.
The ugly truth is we are in over our heads with our sin.
We can try in our own strength to do more good than bad. But that is near impossible, exhausting, and still comes up short in God's economy.
Just like me cleaning the filter didn't really fix my problem, we can’t fix our sin problem with our ability to do good, or a religious ritual.
We need professional help.
Not a priest. Not counting beads, saying prayers, or doing penance.
There is only ONE who can fix it.
Just like I admitted I couldn’t fix this and called Ramon, the ONLY WAY to fix our sin is to admit we can’t do this ourselves and to call out to JESUS.
He has paid for our sins by taking the punishment for it on Himself.
If we call out to HIM, He takes our sin. Disgusting, foul, toxic sin.
And HE puts it far away where we never have to see it again.
It is GONE. PAID FOR.
REMEMBERED NO MORE!
Hebrews 8:12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. I'm glad I don't need to try and deal with the stench of my own sin.
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