An odd way to start a letter to you today, but have you ever wondered why the Lord made us in such a way as to make it necessary that we need to go to the bathroom, the restroom, to relieve ourselves. Why is it necessary for our bodies to expel those items that are not needful for the body, in fact, why not just make everything that we ingest beneficial to the body. I think I have to blame small children here; they are forever swallowing something that is definitely not edible, toys, game pieces, all manner of items not intended for human consumption. No, not really, just kidding, it is not small kids, it is the omniscient wisdom of the Lord God, why is not always the correct question, what is should be enough for us, it gives further ability to glorify His name no matter the reasons. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Psalm 139:14)
Sin is the reason we must alleviate ourselves in this manner, it is the reason that not everything we ingest is beneficial to us, it is the determining factor that we are faced with each day in many different ways, and it will not depart from your life until the moment you are glorified. Free will, a gift from God to every human being, is assaulted by sin on every side every day, not only from within, our own sinful natures, but from the world of man and the wiles of the devil, we are constantly under attack on three fronts, there is no reprieve in the battle, no time off, the assault is constant. Perhaps it is the reason that the Lord determined that nearly one third of our entire lives are to be spent in sleep, a shutting down of the conscience, if you will, cognitive daily processes, not only for the rest of the body, but as a short reprieve from the battle, a break from the tumult.
I do not believe many Christians address their lives in this manner, and I know for a fact that the lost do not, instead many seem to be attempting to live a good life, instead of a holy one, they have acquiesced to this ideology that sin is going to remain prevalent in both themselves and the world, and although they have not ceased entirely from the battle, they no longer fight it with much vigor. “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matt. 24:13)
Our Lord of course foresaw this in all who call Him Lord, the flesh over time becomes more frail, unable to pursue the goals that once were quite simple, the mind has seen sometimes decades of the proof and nature of sin upon the lives of men and the planet as a whole, and we can see that of our own design, apart from the Lord, that it will never be gone, sin is a constant, and unless hindered by the Holy Spirit, it will spread. As surely as you must each day relieve your bowels, sin will do all it can in one or all three of these areas of your life to destroy your walk with Christ, to take your eyes off of Him, to ruin in whatever way possible not only your personal relationship with Him, but the reputation of your faith in the eyes of others, that is its job, that is the responsibility of sin.
The lust of the eyes, the world we see daily, the lust of the flesh, the desires we have that are opposed to the will of God, and the pride of life, the insane idea that none need the Savior, that God is an unnecessary commodity. Each and every day we are assailed on every side. The analogy is not normally used, but what we “cast out into the draught,” (Matt. 15:17) each day is the useless to the body items that came along with those things that are necessary for the continuation of the same body. Such it is with our spiritual lives, much will enter in, not all is necessary, in fact, some of it can be quite harmful.
Try not going to the bathroom for a week, even a day or two, such is the same with the sins we ingest, if left unattended, if not expelled from us, a part of you will begin to die, your fellowship, your close proximity to the throne of grace will be slowly drawn further away, and most generally because of our own free will, we desire, as part of our sinful nature, to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. (Heb. 11:25)
We have a mediator between us and God, the Lord Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5) but He is not going to take our excuses to the Father and ask Him for an understanding heart toward us, we sin, we are responsible, we have made the choice, and we will be held accountable for those choices. The world has not changed one bit, Adam more than likely did not need Satan to enable him to come to a decision to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sooner or later we all fall to temptation, and it is always, not sometimes, not every once in a while, but always by our own free will.
As you expel the unnecessary solids and fluids that are not needful for the body, so must we expel the sins in our lives each day, if we do not, just as the non-nutritional items if left in the body will poison us, so will that unrepentant sin, in fact, the consequences are much, much, worse. When our fellowship with the Lord is broken, at least for the first time, we are more than distraught, not only because of our loneliness, if you will, but because we have grieved the Father. Over time though, the more we depart from His precepts, the easier it becomes, until we finally quench the voice of the Holy Spirit, but just like the analogy used here, in time that continuing sin will poison us, and God will stop encouraging, and start punishing, no child of God is allowed to rebel against the Father for long.
Each day my friends, each and every day, confess your sins to Him, even the ones that you may not recall, such as Job did for his children. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Every day, ask Him to remove the poison from your soul.
