Empty Me...

I was cleaning out my rain gutters yesterday just before a strong storm hit. They were starting to pull away from the house due to not being cleaned right. The gutters over the deck were full to the brim with gunky water, leaves, etc.

I noticed that the opening was plugged up where the water would normally drain through. As I started pulling out handfuls of the disgusting garbage out of the gutter the water flowed through freely. It poured out. The more I cleaned, the more it drained.

Eventually all of the gross debris was gone from the gutters and clean water flowed from the hose and straight down the spout.

Sometime our lives are just like rain gutters. We let all of the garbage of the world fill our heads and homes with things that aren't important. Worse yet, it may be things that are sinful and potentially destructive to ourselves or families.

It might be a TV show that we know we should not be watching. It might be a car we know we cannot afford. It might be a drink that is better left in the bottle. It may even be a friendship with a member of the opposite sex that is starting to go "too far". It could be any number of things that begin to "stink up" our lives.

Much like the gutter we soon begin to fill up with all kinds of garbage that should not be there.

We become complacent. We get lazy. We notice something is wrong, but do nothing about it. "I'll fix it later," we tell ourselves.

Later never comes. Pretty soon that small problem or sin is becoming a real issue in our lives.

Just like a gutter that pulls from a house, we start to pull away from our families and our responsibilities. Worst of all, we start to pull away from God.

Chris Sligh sings a song called "Empty Me". He talks about removing all of the selfish and vain things from him. Basically he is asking God to help remove the "sinful debris" from his life. He wants to be a free-flowing vessel of God's work.

A hammer can help nail the gutter back to the house if it pulls away. If we've pulled away from God He can gently pull us back and embrace us tightly.

When a handful of waste is removed from a gutter the water can flow freely. When we ask God to remove the waste from our lives His spirit flows freely through us.

Basically, we should get our minds out of "the gutter" and be focused on Him. :)