(article I wrote in the Delmont Record, May 21)

“But whatever were gains for me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:7-9, NIV).

I am always a little fascinated, and also greatly disturbed, whenever I stumble upon the A&E show, “Hoarders.”  It is a reality show that takes you inside the homes and lives of people that are addicted to stuff – they can’t seem to throw anything away.  Now, for some people it is specific stuff – maybe they have every newspaper since the Eisenhower administration – but others can’t throw ANYTHING away.  They cling to it all – even their trash.   Soon, their homes become a “litter”al maze of garbage – with tunnels and narrow corridors being the only way to get from room to room.  When they see this, most people wonder how someone could ever live like that.  Yet, for many of us, this picture would be an accurate depiction of our spiritual condition.

Many of us are spiritual hoarders.  When it comes to being justified before God, we try to save everything.  Our sin we might try to hide by stuffing in the back closet, the basement, or the attic of our lives until we have time to deal with it.  Our good works we proudly display in the living room, just in case we might need to show them off if someone accidently opens up that closet full of skeletons.  And, sadly, we think that is what God wants from us.  We think that God wants us to clean up our sin before we come to him, and we also think that God is impressed by the good things we do.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.

God knows that we cannot “clean up” our sin on our own – so He sent Jesus to do it for us.  When it comes to our sin, Jesus is the only garbage man in town.  Without Christ, our only other course of action is to hoard and hide it.  1 John 3:5 says that Christ “appeared so that He might take away our sins” (NIV).  Colossians 2:13-14 says that Jesus “forgave all our sins” by “taking them away and nailing them to the cross” (NIV).  And Jesus does this willingly and gently.  He pleads with us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, NIV).  Jesus is the only one who can take care of our sin problem.  God doesn’t want us to try to fix our problem, or to try to hide our sin from Him, instead, He wants us to bring all our sin to Jesus and pile it on.  Invite Jesus into that dark closet of your past, the basement of your heart, the attic of your mind and let Him start hauling things out.

But Jesus is not just interested in hauling away our sin, He wants to clean everything out. This includes our good works as well.  Not that doing good things is bad, but we need to stop clinging to them as if they were worth something of value in the eyes of God.  Paul makes it clear that we need to consider everything we do – good or bad – as garbage compared to the righteousness that Jesus freely wants to give us.  So we need to not only let Jesus clean out our dark closet but our trophy case as well. For all these things are just plain, ordinary clutter compared to the spiritual gifts Jesus has in store for you. Jesus is not only the garbage man, but he is the remodeler, redecorator, and the architect of our new life – He wants to take everything out, and make us completely new.

So let us, like Paul, consider everything we do – whether in obedience or disobedience – rubbish, garbage, and stinky piles of trash compared to the perfect righteousness that Christ offers to anyone who would come to Him in simple faith.  May we stop hoarding our works, and cling only to the perfect, sufficient, and completed work of Jesus Christ done on the cross for our behalf.  May our hope be built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever.  Amen” (Philippians 4:19-20, NIV).