When I saw the serving dish, I knew we had a problem!
Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful this year and we had lots of fun and food. Now it was time to clean up and do the dishes.
We had found containers for leftovers to be stacked in the refrigerator, and rinsed and loaded dishes in the dishwasher for the first load.
When the cleaning cycle finished, I reached in to remove a serving dish used for dressing — and it was clearly not clean. Food was sticking all over it.
I checked another dish —same problem.
We had a malfunction!
When I got out a glass, it looked pretty clean, but I could feel little bits of dried- on food debris.
So I took out the worst of the dishes to hand wash, and ran the load again.
No success. The dishes were maybe worse.
Call the husband to come see what the problem is. Gary and Andrew quickly realized they needed to take the screws out that held the cover over the drain in the bottom of the dishwasher.
When removed, they found a broken off ceramic piece of pottery, lots of food particles and a collection of stuff around the drain. I’m so glad it didn’t overflow!
They cleaned it out thoroughly, and voila! The cleaning cycle ran and the dishes came out sparkling. The dishwasher had a fresh start and has been doing an outstanding job since.
It may seem silly, but I thought about that dishwasher, the clog and the dirty dishes even after going through the whole cleaning and drying cycle.
And I thought about our human condition with sin in our lives. We often know the right thing to do, but don’t do it. We forget long- term goals and hopes and dreams, and give in to the moment of temptation for the lesser good or the bad.
Realizing we feel guilt and shame, we try to get rid of the result of sin by ourselves. We may try to replace it with another sin to relieve our minds and hearts. We may try to forget about it and ignore it. We may try to blame others, or our situation, or society, or a friend who led us into trouble.
But the load of shame and sin is always there, haunting us, loading us down, interfering with our peace and separating us from God.
There is a way to be forgiven, to get rid of the shame and guilt, and get rid of it for good.
I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Psalm 103:12 assures us, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We all need forgiveness and to be cleaned up spiritually. We can’t do it ourselves.
Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, died on the cross to take on the punishment for our sins and gain forgiveness for us through Him.
Don’t keep trying to clean yourself of sins; let Jesus do the job right.
