April 29, 2002

CONFESSIONS: GOD'S LITTLE WHITE BAGS

A nice older lady lives next door to the church. She is quiet, and I don't know much about her. The only time I see her is when she's walking her dog, a white miniature poodle. They have a set routine. Their walk is brief, usually no farther than the church lawn, where the dog does "his business."

This lady is a good neighbor. She's ready with a small white bag, picks up what the dog has left behind, and walks directly to the church dumpster to deposit her little bag of poop.* No evidence of the dog's indiscretion is left behind. The poodle is now fit to lie down in her living room.

There are a lot of other people with pets in the neighborhood. Some of these use the church lawn for their dogs' rest stops, and since they are in most cases larger than the lady's poodle, so are their "gifts." The piles are often robust and odorific, but the owners aren't bashful about leaving them for others to admire.

I reflected on this. The lady's genteel journey to the dumpster doesn't have much affect on the total amount of doggy-do that defiles the neighborhood. Her little dog's contribution is only a tiny percentage. And yet, she's doing her part to clean the place up. Other's laxity does not cause her to lower her standards. She never fails to make that trip to the dumpster with her little bag of poop.**

And then I saw in this a parable. We have lived much of our lives as undisciplined curs who leave piles of sins all over the place. By God's grace we are saved. God has cleaned up all our accumulated messes.

To our disappointment, we still leave occasional deposits of sin behind. God has given us a small white bag called "confession." He says that if we confess our sins, that is, bring them to his dumpster, he will cleanse us and make us fit to come into his presence, where he never forgets to pet us. The ideal Christian life does not mean sinless perfection but consistency in bringing our little bags of poop*** to him for proper disposal.

Our faithfulness in cleaning up our messes will not do much to change the overall defilement of the world, but at least we're doing our part. We are not responsible for the piles others leave, but even the smallest sin on our part should be confessed before it fouls up God's yard.

So folks, let's make sure we use those little white confession bags as regularly as the lady next door visits the church dumpster. That means confessing as soon as we mess up. That's how we will be God's good citizens.

"Happy are those whose sins are forgiven. While I kept silence, I groaned all day long. Then I acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, 'I will confess my sin to the Lord,' and you forgave the guilt of my sin."
(Psalm 32:1-5, selected portions)

* I thought long and hard about whether I should use this uncouth word in a classy publication like the Messenger. No other word seemed to work. Finally I asked Alice Blackwood, who is ABC's Commissioner of Couth, and she said you'd all understand.

–Pastor George Van Alstine