Managing waste

On every Johannesburg street you see the dustbins overflowing with bags full of rubbish. And when you open your car window or go closer, the stench can knock you off completely. It’s not a pretty sight and if the recent strike by Pikitup staff carries on for longer, we are in big trouble.  We are used to living with in a system where all the waste is collected on a regular basis – keeping the balance. To have to live with that stench will be serious torture on us, not to mention health hazards that come with it.

This got me thinking about our spiritual lives. If it’s so hard to live with even a little bit of uncleared household waste, what makes us think we can live with spiritual waste in our lives? In Ps 51: 8 - 12, David asks the Lord to create in him a clean heart – “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Just like we bath daily, cleanliness and sustenance are key for us to keep on a spiritual high. Spiritual waste can take many forms – unforgiveness, anger, jealousy, dishonesty etc…all the things that are not of God. Yes He understands that we are human and therefore not perfect. But when we renew our minds daily in the word (Rom 12:2), and let Him who is perfect, perfect us with His love then we can keep the collection of spiritual waste at bay. Instead, the aroma we exude will be that which is pleasing to God and has a good impact on those we come across daily.