I spoke at a couple of local high schools, and a mother who was there listening said, “You need to share that story through the paper so everyone can be helped by it. What’s good for our nation’s youth is often helpful for all of our nation, and I think this is one of those moments.”
A Christian author, Max Lucado, tells of the day he mistakenly unplugged his freezer as he was leaving for a three-week summer holiday. That is a mistake I hope I never make. You can imagine the size of the problem on his return home and how quickly the benefits of a holiday disappeared.
What struck me about Lucado’s situation was the way he used it to illustrate a deeply profound human problem. Listen for a moment to this slightly modified version of how he approached the problem.
“What is the best way to clean out a rotten interior? Soapy water and began cleaning the outside of the appliance. But when I opened the door, that freezer was revolting. No problem, I thought. I knew what to do.
This freezer needs some friends. I’d stink, too, if I had the social life of a machine. So I threw a party. I invited all the appliances from the neighbourhood kitchens. It was a great party. Everyone played Pin the Plug on the Socket, but the blenders were the hit, though; they really mixed well. I was sure the social interaction would cure the inside of my freezer, but I was wrong. I opened it up, and the stink was even worse!
Now what? I had an idea. If a polish job wouldn’t do it and social life didn’t help, I’d give the freezer some status!I bought a Mercedes sticker and stuck it on the door. I splashed it with cologne and gave it a credit card… that freezer was classy. It was stylish. It was… cool.
Then I opened the door, expecting to see a clean inside, but what I saw was putrid – a stinky and repulsive interior.I could think of only one other option.
My freezer needed some high-voltage pleasure! I immediately bought it some copies of Playfridge magazine – the glossy that displays freezers with their doors open. I even tried to get my freezer a date with the Westinghouse next door, but she gave him the cold shoulder. After a few days of supercharged entertainment, I opened the door. And I nearly got sick.”
Strange, isn’t it? Who would concentrate on the outside when the problem is on the inside? Do you really want to know? Broken people with superficial answers to matters of the heart do this.
As an observer of life, I’d say we probably all do this from time to time, seeking to fix deep matters of the heart in superficial ways. However, we all know that ‘retail therapy’ can’t remedy a battle with depression and that inner loneliness can never feel so bad as in a room full of partying people.
And status only lasts until it gets its first scratch, be it on the new car or an accomplished career. Maybe a momentary act of adultery, a visit to a brothel, or attendance at a computer porn session might titillate and fascinate, but when the session is over, what you have done has never felt more painfully superficial as the guilt and shame of it strikes home.
There are so many other sad and sorry examples for us all that reveal that our world is somehow unplugged from the power to keep us from being on the nose.
Cleaning the inside of a stinking freezer may be ugly, but it is really very simple. But how do you clean a heart that stinks? That is a really good question that does not have a simple answer. The answer requires a heart surgeon of an unearthly kind.
One who can cleanse the heart so nothing continues to condemn you from the inside. One who can offer peace with no condemnation because in His cleaning of the heart, all is forgiven. Of course, if you find a heart surgeon like that, you will find a love and companionship that changes everything for joy. That is why the heart was never meant to be unplugged from God. To fix it required Jesus Christ to die cleaning it.
When you clean a stinking freezer, you don’t repack it and leave it unplugged from its source of power. That would be ridiculous. And when you clean a heart that stinks, you don’t repack it with stuff and leave it unplugged from your maker and saviour.
That would be ridiculous, and your heart would continue to stink. I wonder if it is time for you to reconnect with Jesus Christ. I can recommend it. It is the best detox program I know.
O, and by the way, Janene and I wish to thank the Island community for your welcome and for making our stay such an enjoyable one.
P.S. We left the fridge plugged in when we left.
Rick Lewers