Spring Cleaning and Pipe Unclogging
As we transition into spring time, a common thing to do is spring cleaning…maybe not a favorite thing to do but a helpful thing. I think it is a good time to do some spiritual spring cleaning too.
A few years ago, a pastor was talking about how hearing from the Holy Spirit is a bit like water flowing through a pipe. It flows well when the pipe isn’t clogged up and not so well when the pipe gets full of gunk and build up. He challenged the listeners to work on cleaning out their pipes so that their communication and hearing weren’t blocked up. I can be a bit of a visual learner, and this example was helpful.
This example came to mind a few weeks ago and has led to some heart reflections. One of the things that has been causing some pipe “build up” has been people who have been hurtful and down right mean. Unkind words, abandonment, betrayal, and lots of “you” statements meant to leave me feeling shame and guilt. All those moments and words are sticking to the inside of the pipe and gunking it up.
Over the past year as our pastors, Todd and Stacey, have talked through different red letter teachings of Jesus, there have been a number of challenging ones. But none as challenging for me as the call of Jesus to love my enemies. Reflection has led to the realization that this particular issue leads to “pipe build up” and makes it harder for me to be in relationship with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, we can’t just walk away from someone who is an enemy but rather we have to regularly interact with that person. And like leg days at the gym, this is the opportunity to regularly exercise the muscles of learning to love those who feel like my enemy. Spring cleaning and heart leg days... doesn’t sound very appealing… but is it necessary? For me it is. As I reflected on this, I realized that the call to love my enemies has highlighted an area of unbelief, too.
What does the Bible say about love? That God is love. That abiding in God means that we are also abiding in love. That everyone is our neighbor and we are to love our enemies and our neighbors. And that living for Christ means that we will experience persecution. That the battles are not of this world but rather spiritual ones with forces that cannot be seen. God is love. But what ultimately has helped has been further reflection on 1 Corinthians 13 from the perspective of loving my ‘enemy’...
1 Corinthians 13:1-8a says…
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (ESV)
Wow. Talk about a tough workout plan! God is love, and He never ends. And with God there is the ability to bear the unbearable, there is the grace to continue to run the race with endurance, and there is hope! Hope that passes all understanding. There is nothing about being a doormat or letting ourselves be walked all over. But loving my enemies looks like being patient, kind, not holding a list of their wrong doings, not being easily irritated and resentful, and by bearing with it and enduring. And most importantly it means believing. Believing in God, in His goodness, faithfulness, forgiveness and letting His light and love flow freely through that pipe into me and through me.
So who is that enemy for you? Perhaps this is simply the person driving too slow in front of you.. Or your teen who is slamming doors and silently angry all the time… or your spouse? Or that coworker?
Will you join me in doing a little spring cleaning and pipe unclogging? Will you reflect on who your enemies are and alongside me learn to love your enemy? Can we do leg day together?
We can pray together to ask God to help us abide in His love and grow us in our abilities to set healthy boundaries and love our enemies. We can ask God to renew in us our faith and hope in His goodness and faithfulness. And to help us with our unbelief.
Let's do the spring cleaning and leg days! Let’s do it with confidence that God will renew us, that He is faithful and good, and that His love never ends! I am moving forward with confidence because my hope isn’t in myself, but rather it is in God who is my strength and my hope.
A few years ago, a pastor was talking about how hearing from the Holy Spirit is a bit like water flowing through a pipe. It flows well when the pipe isn’t clogged up and not so well when the pipe gets full of gunk and build up. He challenged the listeners to work on cleaning out their pipes so that their communication and hearing weren’t blocked up. I can be a bit of a visual learner, and this example was helpful.
This example came to mind a few weeks ago and has led to some heart reflections. One of the things that has been causing some pipe “build up” has been people who have been hurtful and down right mean. Unkind words, abandonment, betrayal, and lots of “you” statements meant to leave me feeling shame and guilt. All those moments and words are sticking to the inside of the pipe and gunking it up.
Over the past year as our pastors, Todd and Stacey, have talked through different red letter teachings of Jesus, there have been a number of challenging ones. But none as challenging for me as the call of Jesus to love my enemies. Reflection has led to the realization that this particular issue leads to “pipe build up” and makes it harder for me to be in relationship with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, we can’t just walk away from someone who is an enemy but rather we have to regularly interact with that person. And like leg days at the gym, this is the opportunity to regularly exercise the muscles of learning to love those who feel like my enemy. Spring cleaning and heart leg days... doesn’t sound very appealing… but is it necessary? For me it is. As I reflected on this, I realized that the call to love my enemies has highlighted an area of unbelief, too.
What does the Bible say about love? That God is love. That abiding in God means that we are also abiding in love. That everyone is our neighbor and we are to love our enemies and our neighbors. And that living for Christ means that we will experience persecution. That the battles are not of this world but rather spiritual ones with forces that cannot be seen. God is love. But what ultimately has helped has been further reflection on 1 Corinthians 13 from the perspective of loving my ‘enemy’...
1 Corinthians 13:1-8a says…
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (ESV)
Wow. Talk about a tough workout plan! God is love, and He never ends. And with God there is the ability to bear the unbearable, there is the grace to continue to run the race with endurance, and there is hope! Hope that passes all understanding. There is nothing about being a doormat or letting ourselves be walked all over. But loving my enemies looks like being patient, kind, not holding a list of their wrong doings, not being easily irritated and resentful, and by bearing with it and enduring. And most importantly it means believing. Believing in God, in His goodness, faithfulness, forgiveness and letting His light and love flow freely through that pipe into me and through me.
So who is that enemy for you? Perhaps this is simply the person driving too slow in front of you.. Or your teen who is slamming doors and silently angry all the time… or your spouse? Or that coworker?
Will you join me in doing a little spring cleaning and pipe unclogging? Will you reflect on who your enemies are and alongside me learn to love your enemy? Can we do leg day together?
We can pray together to ask God to help us abide in His love and grow us in our abilities to set healthy boundaries and love our enemies. We can ask God to renew in us our faith and hope in His goodness and faithfulness. And to help us with our unbelief.
Let's do the spring cleaning and leg days! Let’s do it with confidence that God will renew us, that He is faithful and good, and that His love never ends! I am moving forward with confidence because my hope isn’t in myself, but rather it is in God who is my strength and my hope.
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