My Septic Is Backing Up - My House Is Beautiful

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that you are well and God is working His perfect will in your lives. I'd be surprised if many of you didn't read this title and think to yourself, "Okay, it's official, Bill's lost it." To be honest with you, I'd have to agree. I don't know for sure why God wants me to share this with you because this is a personal and embarrassing thing to confess. When I lived in California, I never had this problem. The great thing about public sewage is that when there's a problem, the city fixes it. Life is a little different in rural Southern Indiana. When your septic backs up, you're the one who has to fix it. This week we're going to look at a faith parallel, and I'd like you to ask yourself the question, "Is my septic backing up?"

Jer 17:9 (KJV)The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Luke 11: 39,40,44 (NKJV)Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? ...Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them."

One of my hobbies is gardening. I love to spend time in my yard planting and pruning. It may seem like arduous work to some, but to me it's relaxing and fun. As a result of the hours spent in my yard, many neighbors have commented that my yard is very attractive and they joke that it's making theirs look bad. While I appreciate the compliments, they fly in my face when I consider my entire house. The brutal reality is that people are passing by my house thinking "That's a beautiful house", and they rarely (if ever) see the inside. If they did come inside they would immediately sense (via their noses) there is a problem here.

This causes me to ponder, what about all the people who pass by me and think "That Bill is has a beautiful Christian spirit". The truth is, inside I'm dealing with sin that would cause anyone to think there is a problem here. I'm grateful you can't see my sin, it's embarrassing. The fact of the matter is Jesus knows what's going on inside of me. He knows what's going on inside of you too. Are you making your outside beautiful for everyone to see, but inside your "septic is backing up?" I hope we can grow together this week while we look at some of the causes of our spiritual back-ups. We will also look at some ways to get things fixed.

Blessings to you all.

Bill