Uh-oh! It’s stopped up…again!
Grab a plunger!
We’ve had this happen more times than I can count. Sometimes, the toilets back up. Sometimes, we can hear a gurgling coming from the hall bathroom, only to go in and find sewage backed up in the bathtub. Ewww!
Or, on occasion, while one of us is taking a shower, we look down at our feet to find the floor is inches deep in water. No, not sewage while taking a shower. Thank the Lord for that!
You see, we had a couple of trees on the side of our house that loved to send their roots down into the sewer pipes. We tried to use chemicals every once in a while to eat away the roots, but it didn’t always work. Those unwanted roots kept coming back.
So, of course, when that happened, everything backed up in the pipeline and made the system unusable. The water could not flow freely. Sometimes, it spilled out into the basement. Oh, gross! And stinky! Where’s the bleach? Always a yucky mess to clean up.
The only solution was to get rid of the source of the problem: the trees. Which we did. However, the problem still occurs every once in a while. Possibly from one other tree.
And possibly from other things sneaking in and clogging it up. My super-handyman Mr. M has cleaned out the pipeline many times himself and, on a few occasions when he couldn’t accomplish it himself with the equipment he had, we had to call a plumber. The one with the best equipment for the problem.
Now, we pay a small amount each month to the utility company for insurance, which is a good deal for us, because we pay nothing when the pipes back up. We don’t have to worry. Someone else takes care of it for us.
So what about our spiritual pipeline? Do we pack our lives so full of things that do not belong, allowing them to be overgrown, that we end up as blocked channels? And useless to the Lord?
Do circumstances, attitudes, or sin clog our lives because there is a root problem we haven’t dealt with and now causes a stinky mess?
Numerous unwanted roots can take hold in us, like bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, gossip, pride, hate, negative thinking and attitudes, etc. And even “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Tim. 6:10 NLT)
So that no root takes hold and stagnates our lives, we need to get rid of the source. Many times, it is unconfessed sin. In order to be useful again, we need to confess our sins and the Lord will “cleanse us from every wrong.” (1 John 1:9b TLB)
What sneaks in and tries to take root in your life, causing a backed up mess? What do you use to eradicate those unwanted roots?
When your pipes back up, you don’t have to worry. You can call on the One who takes care of it for you. The One with the best equipment for the problem. You have that insurance – and that assurance – that the Lord will “root” it all out, cleanse you, and flow freely through you once again.
My prayer for you…
“And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done.” (Col. 2:6-7 TLB)
Hooking up with…
Jennifer Dukes Lee
Holley Gerth
Carissa Shaw
The Missional Call
3-D Lessons for Life
Equipping Godly Women
Sandra Heska King’s Still Saturdays
