Every once in a while I get on a mission, my own little personal vendetta against an offending foe assaulting the tranquility of my home. Many years ago in Washington State I launched a full scale war against the Bermuda grass invading my lawn. Fescue, you see, is king in those parts. That is a battle I lost… As fate would have it, a few years ago here in NC I struggled mightily in vanquishing the failing Fescue to plant and establish my yard with Centipede grass, Bermuda’s poorer cousin. Some of you might recall me battling moths that had gotten inside by putting open boxes of poisonous moth balls all throughout the house. That turned out to be a really dumb idea, but I beat those nasty little buggers in the end. Two years ago at this very time I was consumed in a quest to find a new baby Jesus for my crèche, knowing it would be a shame to go through Christmas without finding Jesus…
My latest battle is with mildew and the musty smell that comes with it. In August or September I left a window in a back bedroom open just enough — and a little rain got into the room. I put fans out and dried everything out in short order. Problem solved I thought, but before long the musty smell told me not all was well.
I hate that smell! I have been doing off and on battle trying to get rid of it ever since. I washed and sprayed and treated the carpet by the window with every home remedy I could look up. I stripped sheets and bedding. I took the drapes down to have them washed. I sprayed the mattress and box spring with enough Lysol to disinfect the Panther’s locker room, and emptied cans of air freshener through the entire house. All of it was to no avail. The hated musty smell persisted, and that I cannot tolerate.
So Monday I went nuclear and did the only thing left to do. I took everything out of the room, yanked the carpet, pulled up the pad and hauled them off to the dump. Mind you, all of this is due to an area no bigger than 20-30 square feet. The bedroom floor is now bare, but at least the smell is finally gone!
Two related thoughts about my latest personal little war. First, it occurs to me that the things we do which separate us from God, our weaknesses, frailties and sins, are a lot like the mildew problem I just had. No matter what we do to try to get rid of them on our own, no matter what we use to try to cover them up, perfume them over or pretend they aren’t there or aren’t such a big deal – all of these efforts are futile. The problem remains, and the stench that comes with it permeates everything in our lives. The only way of getting rid of the impact of sin in our lives is by ripping it out at the source. And this we simply cannot do on our own. We need a Savior.
My second thought is a reminder that a Savior is what Advent is about, what Advent points to and directs us toward. It isn’t the little baby Jesus we await, it is the Son of God coming into the world on a mission all his own, a mission to save us from ourselves. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering” is the way Paul describes it (Romans 8:3). In his much-loved Advent hymn Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, Charles Wesley wrote
“Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.”
As Christmas approaches and we await the joy and wonder of the manger, let us keep before us the reason why He came.
See you Sunday!
-Bill
