Dirt

dirt  (dûrt) n. 1. Earth or soil. 2. a. A filthy or soiling substance, such as mud or dust. b. Excrement. 3. A squalid or filthy condition. 4. One that is mean, contemptible, or vile. 5. a. Obscene language or subject matter. b. Malicious or scandalous gossip. c. Information that embarrasses or accuses. 6. Unethical behavior or practice; corruption. 7. Material, such as gravel or slag, from which metal is extracted in mining. [Middle English, variant of drit, excrement, filth, mud, from Old Norse.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

As I drove to work this morning I noticed something that puzzled me. To give you a bit of background, I had 2 passengers ie a neighbours kid I sometimes drop off (as his school is on my way to work) and one of my friends, living with us at the moment. My brother in-law who lives with us had done a superb job with cleaning the enterior of the car, infact I liked what I saw and immediately became protective. My younger passenger, like most young school boys, didn't bother much about the cleanliness of his footwear and this got me thinking he was going to spoil my temporal internal 'bling'. I brushed the idea aside as I focused on the road ahead. 10 minutes later I dropped up my friend and was about to drive off when I noticed a 'noticeable' amount of shoe dirt, where her legs rested...( I am not usually this paranoid about dirt...it's just that the shine in the interior had the better of me)! Arggggggggggh, I moaned internally. Now, I thought, I had to deal with to dirty carpets, rather than just one.  My younger smilly customer soon reachedh his destination and skipped off. As I was about to drive off though, I noticed his area (inspite of his conspiciously dirty shoes), still possessed it's bling. I looked hard to see if I'd find any dirt, but there was none. No shoe dirt, no dust, no mud...wooh! OK That was weird I thought, then some thoughts dawned on me:

1. God, our maker, made us in His image and likeness. Sin (like dirt), distorts this image and separates us from God. Somehow, the cleanliness of the interior of a vehicle made my spirit light and put a song in my heart. When it got dirty (by a few specks of dust), I could feel a cloud settling over me. I begin to understand why God hates sin.

What is required of you, when you know Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,? Knowing that, Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Get rid of the dirt confess your sin today and receive Jesus in your life. The next step? Rom 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

2. When we judge (and we should do so sparingly), we ought to judge righteously and not per appearance. I, in no way suspected my friend  would be the one to 'spoil' my pleasure of having a clean ride and rather condemned my younger passenger before the fact. How many times have we fallen in the trap of judging others based on appearance rather than on true facts? Whatever measure we apply or grace we provide in our judgement of others...the same awaits us. That is divine Judgement.

A pleasant week as you meditate on these things.