Good Riddance

Chapter 4

 

"The landfill is tall with trash--papers and broken brooms and old beds and rusty cars. By the time they reach the hill, the line to the top is long. Hundreds walk ahead of them. All wait in silence, stunned by what they hear--a scream, a pain-pierced roar that hangs in the air for moments, interrupted only by a groan. Then the scream again.

 

His.

 

As they draw nearer, they know why. He kneels before each, gesturing toward the sack, offering a request, then a prayer. 'May I have it? And may you never feel it again." Then he bows his head and lifts the sack, emptying his contents upon himself. The selfishness of the glutton, the bitterness of the angry, the possessiveness of the insecure. He feels what they felt.  

It is as if he'd lied or cheated or cursed his Maker.

 

Upon her turn, the woman pauses. Hesitates. His eyes compel her to step forward. He reaches for her trash and takes it from her. 'You can't live with this,' he explains. 'You weren't made to.'  

With head down, he empties her shame upon his shoulders. Then looking toward the heavens with tear-flooded eyes, he screams, 'I'm sorry!'

 

'But you did nothing!' she cries.

 

Still, he sobs as she has sobbed into her pillow a hundred nights. That's when she realizes that his cry is hers. Her shame his.

 

With her thumb she touches his cheek, and for the first step in a long nighttime, she has no trash to carry.

 

With the other's she stands at the base of the hill and watches as he is buried under a mound of misery. For some time he moans. Then nothing. Just silence."

 

 

We had Vacation Bible School this week at my church. Boomerang Express! The kids learned 5 Bible verses each with their own meaning. But the last one coincides with this book, "Give it All to Him". 

 

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

 

It seems strange to me that if we just tell Jesus what we have done wrong and ask for forgiveness, He will grant it. No questions asked. And after we are forgiven, we are no longer bound by shame, guilt, lust, or greed. We are free. But why do we still feel the guilt? If God has cleansed us like he says, then why are we still shamed by the guilt and guilted by the shame?

 

Max Lucado gives a very good analogy: "Confession does for the soul what preparing the land does for the field. Before the farmer sows the seed, he works the acreage, removing the rocks and pulling the stumps. He knows that seed grows better if the land is prepared." And my favorite sentence in the whole book: "Confession is the act of inviting God to walk the acreage of our hearts." (Such a neat thought) " ' There is a rock of greed over there, Father. I can't budge it. And the tree of guilt near the fence? It's roots are long and deep. And may I show you some dry soil too crusty for seed?' God's seed grows better if the soil of our hearts is cleared."

 

Such a neat concept. Confession is the act of inviting God to walk the acreage of your heart. He's walking through your heart pruning, cutting back, fertilizing, encouraging and loving us to help us grow in Him. Wow.

 

"You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled  the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross." Colossians 2:14 (NLT)

 

Wow.

 

What can I leave at the cross?

 

What can you?

 

Until chapter 5...