Throw Out YOUR Trash

"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash-along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant-dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ-God's righteousness."---Philippians 3:7-9 (Message)

"...I was like a trash can. I took everything."---Nicole Richie

Trash: anything worthless, useless, or discarded; rubbish; foolish or pointless ideas, talk, or writing; nonsense; broken or torn bits, as twigs, splinters, rags, or the like; empty words or ideas; worthless or offensive literary or artistic material; disparaging, often abusive speech about a person or group

Synonyms: debris, EXCESS, filth, garbage, idiocy, junk, leavings, nonsense, pieces, RESIDUE, scraps, scum, waste

Yes, already I love this. Don't you?

If you've been following these for awhile, then you know that I have an extreme version of a love/hate relationship with possums. I truly think they are the ugliest, most disgusting things on earth and I strongly believe they are the result of sin (something with such beady eyes and fangs couldn't have possibly been in the Garden!). On the other hand, I have had an occasion or two when I know (that I know, that I know) that they saved my life. Well recently, I had an encounter with another one that caused me to look at trash from a totally different perspective.

You know, when you really think about it, trash is an interesting thing. (Stop rolling your eyes, Cory...we are going somewhere with this!) I mean, just think about it. By the time you have thrown trash into a bag or can, you are basically saying (and showing) that you no longer have use for those certain item(s) anymore. But the truth (John 8:32) is that ten minutes...five hours...yesterday, you did. THE THINGS THAT WE THROW AWAY, AT ONE POINT IN TIME SERVED A GOOD---OR AT THE VERY LEAST, NECESSARY---PURPOSE FOR US. We dispose of them when they no longer do. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

That is why this message is entitled, "Throw Away YOUR Trash" rather than "THE" trash, because before we are done, I pray (Luke 12:12) that you gain a deeper insight into the "One man's junk is another man's treasure" quote. Certain "trash items" that we explore in this message may no longer serve a purpose for you...but that doesn't mean it won't for someone else...later...especially if that personal "worthlessness" is a person. (Yes, QV, I got your insight that in NY you don't throw away trash...you recycle and sometimes what you no longer need, someone else does. Good point and a whole 'nother message for another time!)

Moving on...

So anyway, before going on this particular trip, I made sure to empty out all of the trash cans throughout the house. Now, another thing that I should point out is that based on the room, trash usually has a theme. I mean, what you find in your bedroom can is probably not what you will find in your kitchen. Why? Because different rooms serve a different purpose. When it comes to our lives, there are also different compartments. What your heart needs (Proverbs 4:23) may not necessarily be what your mind requires (Proverbs 23:7, Philippians 4:8); what your body craves (I Corinthians 16:9, Galatians 5:16, I John 2:16) may not be the same as what your soul longs for (Matthew 16:26). Shoot, that's a devotional message within itself that, like a house that holds many rooms, we are all made up of many things that serve many functions and often have different needs. We really should ask God to help us tend to all of what makes us, well us, separately and yet equally; no room should go overlooked. I think a big part of the spiritual journey is to get to a place where they all become in sync (Mark 12:33); where they are working with, and not against, one another...where the house becomes more of a home...a comfortable, suitable and PURPOSEFUL dwelling place.

That said, speaking of things working in sync, someone was recently told me something that I SO THINK gets said and taken out of context...way too often: "Shellie, when it comes to your future mate, God may not give you what you want, but what you need. Until then, he is your husband. Don't concern yourself with it."

Now, don't get me wrong. I think I know where she was going with this. There is a scripture in Ezekiel (11:21-NKJV) which says, 'But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,' says the Lord God." Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that our hearts can be deceitful and so yes, we must be cautious in making sure we are asking God about if what we want is good for us rather than telling him so (I can provide you a LONG LIST of people who told God about their current mates and it got them in some really hot marriage water!). BUT Psalm 37:4 states that God will give us the desires of our hearts. I don't think he would give us anything that would deceive us (James 1:13) and so that must mean that there is a line between being deceived by our hearts and being blessed by them. I think that is why Christ instructed us to love God with ALL of our heart, mind and strength (Luke 10:27). It's because when that happens, I believe, our desires and his will start to line up; that's when what we want and what we need become one in the same. So, that said, yes, when I comply with the Word, I do believe that God will give me what I want and what I want will be what I need. As a matter of fact, Christ told me that to be so:

"Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.'"---Mark 9:23 (NKJV)

The other issue I take with her statement is that GOD IS A SPIRIT (Romans 8:9) and that is something I think far too many of us forget. Yes, I am aware of what Isaiah 54:5 (NKJV) says: "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth", but please let's put (and keep) this in it's proper place. One of the wisest things my friend, William Fredrick Holt has ever said (to me) is that people humanize heaven. They put what they, in their sinful, flawed and limited mindset, believe about the afterlife into their minds, into books, into sermons and many of these things that are not even biblically sound. It was a hard pill to swallow, but he is right. If we are going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye (I Corinthians 15:22), I am assuming it's because in this state, we cannot handle what heaven has to offer: mind, body or spirit; that if there is any place where God will do above all that we can ask or think, it would be there! (Ephesians 3:20)

Well, when it comes to people saying that the Lord is a husband (especially to the single folks), I think the same flaw-in-theory applies. First, let me say to the married people who tell us that, that if the Lord was all the husband we need, then why are you married? On the new blog vision that God gave me (http://sohowdidyouknow.blogspot.com), one of the wives said something that has been ringing in my ear since I read it:

"While you might have been able to meet your basic needs, you have a greater need if God has called you to be a wife."

Even with all God is, if you are or if you are called to be a wife (Matthew 19-Message), there is a void that the role of an earthly husband fills...and God made it that way! To want it is more than OK and no, I don't think wanting it is slighting the role that God fills in our lives. He should come first, husband or not.

Second point, the New Century Version of this scripture states that the God who made us is LIKE our husband. I am not married to God like I would be to a man. On some levels, to even try and think of that makes my stomach turn. No, God is LIKE MY HUSBAND in the sense that he should be the head of my life. And so yes, I think, husband or not, the Lord is like one...but when it comes to some of the things on my "please believe I pray about it regularly so that it does me good and not harm" wish list, it would be a MAN that would have to be made manifest and yes, I do believe that it will do my human trinity godly good (mind, body and spirit) to receive it, and there is nothing wrong with asking for/about it (Matthew 7:7-8) in the meantime.

I've been hearing that "God is your husband, so you should be fine" stuff for quite some time, but whenever people tell me that now, it's actually one of the "mind trash items" that I have gotten used to disposing of. I don't need to be told that God and a man are synonymous in their purpose. To me, that falls under the trash synonym of "nonsense".

OK, back to the trash analogy. So, as I went through the house to put all of the trash into one big bag so that I could take it outside, aside from noticing that different rooms had different trash, I also noticed that when I started to put them all together, it was causing this really weird odor and the bag was getting heavier. Now, let's pause right here.

Do you know what tickles me about New Year's Resolutions? It's kind of like piling up all of the trash of one year into one big bag. I mean, really. Aside from the fact that New Year's being on January 1 brings about it's own set of historical/biblical conflicts and issues (look 'em up), what really gets me is I tend to wonder what makes that day any different than the rest? Proverbs 27:1 warns us against boasting about tomorrow because we don't know what today will bring. If you sense something in your life is filth...garbage...junk, throw it out now. Holding onto it just makes the process harder and messier when you finally do.

Next point. So, after I got my big, nasty bag together, I took it outside to the big can that I put out in the front of the yard for the trash man to pick up. Only here's the thing: I was going to be out of town on pick up day, and I forgot to ask my neighbors to roll it out for me. Oh, these two sentences alone have brought about two HUGE lessons.

1. This is why it's good to have reliable people in your life. The Bible says that a friend loves at ALL times (Proverbs 17:17) and yet, at the same time, faithful are the wounds of a friend (Proverbs 27:6). Some of us have trash that we need help getting out of our space. We are holding on to "leavings" of things that are doing us absolutely NO GOOD; not only is it causing a stench, but it's affecting those around us.

2. Some of us throw the trash out from our "human trinity house", but it's close enough to go and rummage back through it if we really want to. Sure, my big bag was no longer in my home, but it was in my backyard. See, the thing about a garbage man is that he comes to take the trash to a place where we wouldn't be able to go back to it if we wanted to. In the spiritual sense, I think that is what God wants to do for us. When the Word says that "As far as the east is from the west,so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12), I think we can look at that as one, big, spiritual junkyard. When he comes by us to pick up the trash in our lives, it's gone...for good.

Oh, but we are the ones who have to roll it out there---to the front of ourselves (where we can see it and acknowledge it). He's not gonna force us to get rid of it. And here's where the real lesson begins.

So, when I got back home, it was late at night (you really can find the grossest stuff in the dark-Luke 11:34-35). As I was driving up, guess what I saw by the can? A POSSUM. Ugh! They are the absolute worst! Now, I live in the South and so possums are like the state roadkill animal, but to see a live one...looking at you...in your yard...THERE ARE NO (APPROPRIATE) WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT. Here's the thing about possums, though. They are rodents, indeed and because they are so nasty, they can be very intimidating...but the truth is that they are usually just as, if not more, scared of us as we are of them. (Bookmark that.)

When I drove up, he ran back behind the fence. Let's pause here for a moment. Rodents (rats, mice, chipmunks, gerbils, hamsters, beavers, weasels, even squirrels) are animals that are known for being mammals that use their large incisors to gnaw and bite away at whatever they are trying to get to. But see, here's the thing: many of them don't mind where they find something to gnaw on...and when it comes to rats, mice and possums, they really don't. As a matter of fact, they tend to gravitate towards trash.

I remembered this fact and so I immediately went to my trash can and looked inside. Oh! That's why he was hangin' out. There was a ton of trash in there and he could sense it. It didn't matter that it was out of the house...it didn't matter that it was in a big bag and in a big can. It had not been picked up and so, as a direct result, I attracted a rodent into my living space. He wasn't super close, but close enough to be a problem if I overlooked it.

Yes, yes, let the games begin! A lot of us, right now, have "spiritual rodents" lurking around our "human trinity house".

There might be a relationship that we have ended, but every time his/her name comes up we spend an hour talking about him/her. There is still an emotional RESIDUE.

There may be a habit that we are trying to quit, but we can't get rid of the one last porn DVD...that one last escort number...that one last bottle of gin (not because drinking alcohol is a sin, but because being a drunk is a problem-Ecclesiastes 9:7, Proverbs 31:6...Proverbs 20:1, Romans 13:13)...that one last conversation before we change our number. There is still DEBRIS floating around our psyche.

There may be a new level in our purpose that we are trying to get to, but we are monetary hoarders. James 1:27 (NKJV) says, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphansand widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." The Message Version translates it as, "...Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight,and guard against corruption from the godless world." Oh, but some of us would rather prove our "religion rank" by bragging out the new car we got...but trying to kiss up to those in church leadership...by buying another pair of shoes we don't need so that we can appear "blessed". We are living in EXCESS.

It's idiocy...it's scum...it's trash...it's such a waste. And because we don't let THE MEGA GARBAGE PICK-UP MAN dispose of it, as a direct result, many of us are attracting spiritual rodents into our space. So, what is a waste? Well, let's look it up by definition:

Waste: useless consumption or expenditure; use without adequate return; neglect, instead of use; gradual destruction, impairment, or decay; an uncultivated tract of land; anything left over or superfluous, as excess material or by-products, not of use for the work in hand; anything unused, unproductive, or not properly utilized;having served or fulfilled a purpose; no longer of use

Synonyms: decay, desolation, expenditure, extravagance, leftovers, MISAPPLICATION (whoa!), OVERDOING (double whoa!), ruin, swill, SOLITUDE, wild

Now think about your life right now. What are you investing in without getting an adequate return? What are you, by your MISAPPLICATION or OVERUSING (that is so deep to me), gradually destroying? What "heartland" are you leaving uncultivated by not planting the right seeds (Matthew 15:13)? What relationship...what job...what habit...what tradition...what opinion...what generational curse is proving to be, in this season of your life, by holding on to it, unproductive? What person, place, thing or idea is hanging around that has already served its purpose...is of no longer use? What have you put out of your "human trinity house", but not completely out of your space that has proven (usually time and time again) to be a waste?

Every time I am tempted to go back to some trash...trash that I know I haven't given to the garbage man of all men yet, I think about the Parable of the Seven Spirits:

"Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation."---Matthew 12:44-46 (NKJV)

Just because something is out of the house, that doesn't mean that 1) we don't need to fill it with something better; something that we can NOW use, and 2) that it is completely gone from us. Just like possums, evil spirits spend a lot of their time looking for the right trash, at the right place, at the right time...it knows that most "homes" are not clean all of the time and it usually remembers the ones that it's been to before that had what it wanted ("Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time."---Luke 4:13-NKJV). The truth about rodents of all kinds? Trash it was it feeds on...trash it what it likes.

Do you know why we should repent daily (Acts 3:19), die daily (I Corinthians 15:31), "throw out our trash" daily? It's because keeping trash around...things that you no longer need is a filthy way to live. But, there is another reason. When you hold on to it, it can bring about bigger problems. CERTAIN RODENTS ONLY COME AROUND TRASH. Without it, there is nothing that they are really attracted to; there is no need for them to hang around.

Some of us right now are praying, "Get the behind me, Satan" due to some stronghold in our lives, but he is not the problem; we are. HE (or rather his imps) ONLY CAME BECAUSE HE (they) SMELLED THE STENCH. A story in the Bible that cracks me up (due to the spirits sarcasm) and causes me to seriously internally reflect is the one about the evil spirit who says to a Jewish chief priest, "'Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?' Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpoweredthem, and prevailed against them,so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."---Acts 19:15-16 (NKJV)

The thing about the possum is that he ran when he saw me. I'm bigger than he is. But, I am certain that if I had let that trash sit long enough, he would have 1) grown from eating it (yes, many times we feed the very things we want to fight) and 2) probably would've brought some of his friends along. It wouldn't be long before the thing that I had the power to overtake would have overtaken me! When you don't let things that you no longer need go, that tends to happen. In the spiritual sense, the Word tells us, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."---I John 4:4 (NKJV) But, it's not US that is GREAT; it's the GOD IN US. We can't fight the evil spirits that are coming to gnaw on the pieces of our minds, bodies and spirits alone. God must help us and we must follow God's instructions (Proverbs 3:6) in order to gain victory.

It was a very humbling scripture for me when I first read the Message Version of Psalm 28:9:

"God has no use for the prayers of the people who won't listen to him."

Some of us claim to be Christians, but the Word says that who the Son sets free is free indeed. (John 8:36) To be a Christian and be bound? Those two things do not work together. As a follower of Christ, a part of his example to us is that NOTHING should hinder us from getting to God's purpose for our lives...to living out his best plans for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) Do you know why there is no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1) because those in him are not weighed down by their sins...their issues...their strongholds...their trash. They pray to God and regularly and consistently listen for direction(s) on how to let such things go. Ecclesiastes 8:5 (NKJV) assures us:

"He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; and a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment."

A wise man knows when it's time to use something, when it's time to dispose of it and when it's time to roll it out to the front of his life so that God can take it away...for good.

As we start up a new week, think about the "trash" you still have lying around. Just because it's not in your heart space doesn't mean it's not in your "human trinity house"...just because it might be out of the house doesn't mean it's not still in your space, close enough for you to go back to it if you wanted to. If something you no longer need is still affecting you, it's not totally gone from you and take it from me and my possum visitor, by holding on to it, nothing but problems (often ones you didn't even foresee) will arise. THROW IT OUT...LET IT GO. By it's very definition, trash is worthless...it's foolish...it's empty, offensive and abusive. And, by God's very definition (check out Psalm 139:14), we are worth so much more than that.

Rodents (and all of the drama that they bring) only come where they are wanted...and that is around trash.

©Shellie R. Warren/2009