Category Archives: Sin

Holey Living?

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This morning my neighbor showed me her unique key ring: a beach stone with a hole through it. She and her granddaughter collect these holey stones, and their finds have been lavish enough to create a long garland of them above her kitchen sink.

Often we think of holey things as being broken or deficient. For example, when our bones get holey, we have osteoporosis. Holey teeth mean cavities, which can lead to root canals and crowns. A hole-in-the-wall refers to a dingy, unimpressive room or apartment.

Just as often, though, holes can be positive: the holey sponge used to seal my slate floor; the holes in notebook paper used to anchor pages to a 3-ring binder; the holes in board games like Chinese Checkers or Parcheesi; holes in lace, handmade by skilled grandmas; a hole-in-one.

There’s also the category of holey items that were negative at one point but have now become positive, like holey jeans. Once considered ready for the rag bag, expensive jeans wear designer labels these days and are marked by well-placed, professionally cut holes.

Some holey things can’t be seen at all but are significant nonetheless: a hole in someone’s heart (sadness); a hole in my head (irrationality); an ace in the hole (hidden advantage); holes in an argument (unsound reasoning).

Worst of all, I think, would be holes in my thinking about the way to God, an inaccurate analysis of the way to have eternal life in heaven. To be wrong on this would be to suffer severe, never-ending consequences. We don’t want any holes in our thoughts about what comes after death. Happily, God doesn’t leave us guessing. In Scripture he details clearly the route to heaven:

1.  Every one of us does wrong things, which are sins. (Romans 3:23)

2.  Since a perfect God can’t live with sinners or their sins, we’re doomed without a way to get rid of them. (Romans 6:23)

3.  That’s where Jesus comes in, having voluntarily sacrificed his flawless life for our sinful lives. (Romans 5:8)

4.  When we admit we need his forgiveness, God cloaks us in Christ’s righteousness and saves us from eternal death. (Romans 10:13)

And that’s the unholey way to get to heaven.

After we’ve followed these steps, we can begin learning to live a life that is not holey (full-of-holes) but is, instead, holy. Not that it’s easy! But some good starting points are to choose impartiality over judgment, humility over arrogance, and forgiveness over vengeance.

Although none of us can do all of that, all of the time, we can all make an effort in those directions. And when we do, we’ll gain holiness a little bit at a time. And best of all, when we get to heaven we won’t need a key ring or a key to get in, because Jesus himself will open the door.

“What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

The Nose Knows

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God was generous to give us five senses. If one malfunctions, the other four can pick up the slack. I no longer have a sense of smell after receiving “the atomic bomb of antibiotics” during a hospital stay in 2005. (“Scent or smell?” Jan. 9, 2010) But I don’t view this as a handicap. On some occasions it’s actually a benefit. I can change a baby’s diaper without gagging and am not bothered by ammonia-based cleaning products. But what about missing smells meant to hint at danger?

Last week I got a “taste” of that. While our hardwood floors were being refinished, Birgitta and I had been staying in a house without an internet signal. We decided to head home for a quick in-and-out to get on line. She sat on the front steps with her laptop, and I went inside to a tiny area on the tile floor where an old tabletop computer was still attached to the cable.

Nested amidst stacked furniture, bins of books, a piano, fridge and stove, I booted up and began checking email. The wood floors six feet away were still tacky with that morning’s sealant application, but of course I couldn’t smell it.

In a few minutes my eyes began to sting, but I figured a short night’s sleep was the reason. Rapid blinking helped, and I forgot about it until a strange ache behind my eyes got my attention. “I’ll use my Visine when I get back in the car,” I thought. Then the headache began, mild at first but eventually pounding, and I thought I might have felt a chest pain.

An hour had gone by when Birgitta walked in with her closed laptop, ready to leave. “Oh Mom, it reeks in here!” she said. “How can you stand it?”

“I can’t smell anything,” I said.

“I’m gonna wait outside,” she said. “My eyes are stinging.” And that’s when I realized my nose had missed something important.

Scripture includes a wonderful parallel to my lack of olfactory common sense. God tells us the world is full of opportunities to make wise or foolish choices. Many of them don’t “smell bad” in the beginning, but in time they lead to a poisonous stench. Lowering our guard against sins that seem to smell good at the moment will lead us into a noxious wasteland of ruined relationships and rotted dreams.

Although I can’t smell polyurethane, I know it’s important to keep my spiritual sense of smell sensitive so it can recognize deadly behavioral odors. Thankfully that sense doesn’t depend on olfactory nerves and can’t be damaged if only I’m willing to be careful of what I will and won’t “smell”. But if I sniff around where I ought not to be, before long my nose won’t know what it knows.

If that happens, I hope God gives me spiritually-stinging eyes to let me know I should take my nose and go!

“The idols of the nations… have noses but cannot smell. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.” (Psalm 135:15, 17, 18)

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Washed and Pressed

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All of us know we’re supposed to hold our possessions lightly, but it doesn’t come naturally. We have to repeatedly remind ourselves everything we own has come to us, in one way or another, from God.

Following this principle becomes more difficult when we’re dealing with the possessions of someone else. For example, Mary, Tom and I dismantled Mom’s apartment after she died, a strange experience with endless questions of what to do with each item. Yet it had to be done.

After Nate died, my first reaction was to leave everything as it was: the pens atop his dresser, his shoes lined-up in a row, his business suits on the closet bar. Most people don’t need someone else’s used clothing, nor do they want it. Even so, bundling it all up for charity is a bite too big for most widows to chew. And so the clothes stay put.

Today I decided it was time, at least for part of Nate’s wardrobe. His business shirts have been hanging in dry cleaner plastic for 18 months, pressed and ready to go to work. How silly to let them hang there when other workers could be wearing them.

Nate probably suffered from shirt gluttony owning 45 of them. He also collected pens, some of them antiques, some with leaks, so many of the shirts were pocket-stained. Thankfully, our church is conducting a sale this weekend, with a welcome mat out for used clothing (although not the ones with stained pockets). This moved me to release one more piece of Nate’s life.

Much of adjusting to widowhood is emotional and must be done in our heads. That means it’s not about the shirts at all but about missing the guy who was inside them. Reminding myself that he isn’t ever coming back to wear those shirts helps me let them go. I don’t want to cling to a fantasy.

A day will come for each of us when we won’t need what’s hanging in our closets. Whether we slip out of this life through illness or accident, closet contents will be far from our thoughts. And it’s a good idea now to picture others pawing through our stuff wondering what to do with it all.

There’s a passage in Scripture that’s always puzzled me. It describes God’s detailed care of those he loves, including provision of clothes, and not just any clothes but spectacular ones. Yet many in this world are wearing rags, which doesn’t jive with the story. (Luke 12)

But Jesus was probably referring to our new paradise-clothes, garments with an other-worldly dazzle we can’t yet picture. Nate didn’t take anything with him when he left, but as he met Jesus, a new wardrobe awaited him, and none of it had pocket-stains.

Leaking ink and every other life-stain had been washed away by the blood of Jesus.

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from Jesus Christ… him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” (Revelation 1:4,5)