Hidden Cosmic Compost

 





Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23:24, NIV 

I decided that yesterday was the day I needed to clean house.  Much to my chagrin, I don't divide my time well and have a tendency to allow housework to go untended.   I'm not a messy housekeeper, in the least, but I tend to "surface clean," which satisfies me at that particular moment.  That is, until my conscience gets hold of me and forces me into action.  Yesterday was such a day.  I figured the dog and grandbabies had tracked in enough dirt after the week of rain we had, so I dragged myself up and went at it.

Mind you, I had no intention of doing a "deep clean".  You know the kind: moving furniture and scrubbing every nook and cranny and rooting out hidden offenses - what some call "Spring cleaning," even if it is mid-summer.  But I certainly decided that the vacuum attachments should be put to use; at least jabbing around with them under the couch, chairs, and into the corners.  If there was something that had fallen in those locations, I hadn't missed them and their importance was subject to debate.

As I reached the end of that process, I noticed a ball of dust poking out from behind a particular spot I had been ignoring for some time.  It was one of those locations that's small and out of sight, out of mind.  Moving things out of the way and looking closer, I realized how bad it really was.   The originator of the term "cosmic compost" escapes me at the moment (it was from a funny book I read over 35 years ago), but that's exactly what was staring at me.  The term "dust bunny" was just too mild and benign to compare to it.  So much had accumulated, it was difficult to recognize the object it surrounded.  As it leered at me like some monster out of a horror movie, I began viciously sucking it up with the vacuum, hoping that would satisfy me until I got serious about scrubbing from top to bottom.

It didn't.

Once the small offending ball of dust, hair, and who knows what was gone, more began to appear.  It seemed endless as dust and smaller balls of "cosmic compost" drifted down from the fabric it was hiding behind, and the worst of it was that when I finally got it all, what was lurking underneath was equally as offensive.

So much for cleaning the surface, today.  I spent the next half hour making sure that I had gotten everything in that corner and decided to take a quick look in a couple more.   When I was done, I sat down and started thinking about how complacent we are over things as trivial as housecleaning.  We want to put off for tomorrow what can easily be done today.  But even more, I began to equate it with the corners of our heart that we rarely examine for a buildup of sin.

Like the ignored dust that collected in the dark corner of my home, unrepentant sin can begin as a mote of dust lying idle in a corner of our hearts and can quickly build into a disgusting mess that we are forced to deal with after it has grown into a nearly unmanageable size.  Merely giving our a hearts a quick surface check-over doesn't address the hidden problems that may be lurking there.  We need to look deeply into every nook, every cranny, and every corner for the hidden sins that keep us from having a meaningful relationship with our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  And we need to do it often.

This is not to say that God isn't aware of every spot, wrinkle, stain, smear, or ball of "cosmic compost" that inhabit our hearts.  He is our Creator and knows our thoughts and our actions, including what we may be harboring in our hearts:

 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."   

(Jeremiah 17:10)  

 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    You discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. 

(Psalm 139:1-4)

Jesus Christ is our Savior because the blood of His atonement provided all that is necessary to clean us up for salvation.  All the needful scouring of our depraved hearts (sanctification) is performed by the Holy Spirit by shining His brilliant light into the dark recesses where sin may be hiding so that we may recognize them, repent, and our hearts prepared to receive the truth of God's Word.  We need to be eternally grateful that this cleansing process was afforded a worm such as us.  Without it, our souls would be caught up in the filth of sin and we would be judged accordingly.

If finding the mess I was forced to confront did anything for me yesterday, it convinced me that I need to ask the LORD to daily search my heart for any hidden "cosmic compost" that's lurking there.  Ignoring it won't make it go away, anymore than ignoring the forgotten corner of my home.  Sin needs to be confessed and rooted out.  After all, the Holy Spirit abides there.

Have you examined the corners of your heart, lately?  There just may be something skulking there that needs your immediate attention.  If there is, don't put it off - get after it for the honor and glory of God.

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Rev. 3:19, ESV

  

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Editors note:  This was originally published in September, 2011, but is, unfortunately, relevant for today.  I hope my words are encouraging to parents and grandparents who may be facing the same problems.  If you are, give your children and grandchildren over to the LORD and travail in prayer for changed hearts.

In 1967, a R & B singer by the name of Aretha Franklin reintroduced a  song that quickly became a hit.  "Respect" was originally released by Otis Redding in 1965, but the two versions were uniquely different.  Redding's version, a blues tune, sang about a "desperate man" pleading with a woman to respect him.  Franklin's interpretation, which had a more up-beat tempo, impressed that she deserved respect, rather than begging for it, and the sexual connotations were evident in the lyrics, "sock it to me," that are sung over and over again. 

The song has been touted as a "landmark for the feminist movement" and has continued to be one of the genre's greatest hits.  In fact, Franklin's version continues to be profiled in movies and television, including Steven Spielberg's animated television series, "Tiny Toons" that was produced for children.  "Babs Bunny," the young female rabbit in the series, lip synchs the song as the rest of the cast back her up.  So much for healthy Saturday morning cartoons.

It is disturbing to think that the word "respect" has lost its original meaning, as is evident in the example above.  When one considers how it was implied in the song that bears its title, the definition of the word is no longer used in its proper context to direct one how to either apply it or receive it.  And I think it can be safely said that there is a general, overall disregard for the necessity of respect in today's culture, especially among our youth.  They are simply not being taught the original purpose of the word and the importance of putting it into practice.   Recently, I learned that lesson the hard way through a grandchild's bad behavior and disrespect, and it prompted me to write this.

Webster defines "respect" as having high regard or esteem for a particular person, idea, situation, or thing.  To be "respected" is to have others display esteem upon your person, indicating that the level  of authority you are conveying is worthy of the application.  Everyone wants respect, some demand it, but not all of us receive it, or even deserve it, for that matter.  It can also be said that we must earn respect, and this is accomplished by demonstrating to others something within us that is deserving of the honor.

However, if we take a Biblical look at the word and see how God applies it to all of us, it is possible that we find ourselves recognizing the error in our thinking and how we may have misinterpreted and misused the application of "earning" and applying respect.

One of the most troubling demonstrations of the lack of respect in our society, and a pet peeve of mine, is the refusal of young people to grant it to their elders and those of authority over them.  I don't need to detail the evidence.  It is glaringly obvious in every aspect of society, including the media, the internet, television, schools, and their behavior outside their homes.  There's not a lot of difference between the present and what it was like when Jeremiah lamented over the sins of Israel.  The youth had no respect for the elderly then, either (Lam. 5:12), and the elderly could no longer be found at the city gates where they taught and instructed them (Lam. 5:14).  Children still want to challenge the authority of their parents, their teachers, law enforcement, and even their church leaders who are attempting to guide them.  However, the degree to which they practice disrespect has grown exponentially since the 1960's and has become a serious problem as our youth wallow in "self".

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus told the parable about two men, one a tax collector and the other a Pharisee, who had gone to the temple to pray.  The crowd that had gathered around Him to hear the lesson considered themselves to be "righteous" and "viewed others with contempt."  As Jesus told the parable, I've often wondered how many hearts understood what He was telling them.  The contrast between the self-righteous Pharisee and the repentant tax collector was vivid.  The LORD'S conclusion to His parable can also be applied to respect or the lack of it:  "...for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

The "contempt" our children have for society, their parents, their grandparents, and others who have been placed in authority over them have thrust them into a position of "exalting" themselves over others.  It goes without saying that unless they are taught what true respect means, their attitude will never be replaced with a humble one.  If they are living in a home where the husband has no Godly love for his wife and she doesn't respect him (Eph. 5:33), if they are working in an environment where they have no respect for their employers or their job (1Peter 2:18-19), or if they have no regard for their nation and those God has put in place to govern them (1Peter 2:13-17), then we can expect them to continue to be disobedient and stay on a pathway to destruction.

When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the directive He gave in the fifth was aimed at the youth and included a blessing upon them if they followed it.  “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."  (Ex 20:12).  Honoring parents and grandparents is a form of respect that is necessary for a healthy and spiritual well-being.  Without it, the child becomes selfish, disrespectful, insolent, manipulating, and demanding.  And as he matures, he will carry those qualities on into every aspect of his life and pass it on to his own children, to the detriment of society as a whole.

Proverbs were penned by King Solomon as a way to instruct his children in the ways of God.  The profound wisdom he impressed upon them would help them to mature into righteous and just men able to keep peace among his people, and the wisdom they would need to attain these things would be proved later in their lives.  As Prov 16:31 impresses, "Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life..." and, "The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old."  (Prov 20:29)  Young people need to be taught that what they mistakenly perceive to be their own fair-haired "wisdom" is nothing more than an immature and disobedient way of thinking and that those with more years and experience should be respected for what they can teach them.

It's time that parents, and even grandparents, started to demand the respect they have earned through a lifetime of experience and God-given wisdom.  If you were raised in a home like mine that taught you to respect your elders, even if you believed they weren't worthy of it, then you need to start teaching your children the same thing and enforcing the necessary discipline upon them when they don't.  When children are taught to REFLECT Jesus Christ, they will also earn the RESPECT they desire.

It's up to you to learn what Scripture can teach you about respect, not what the secular world and its music, videos, and literature want to impress upon you.  Recording artists Redding and Franklin got it wrong.  Get it right and then pass it onto your children and grandchildren.