Articles
It is All About the Garbage
It is All About the Garbage
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would not take the garbage out.
She'd wash the dishes and scrub the pans Cook the yams and spice the hams,
And though her parents would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceiling: Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas and rotten peas, Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor, It cracked the windows and blocked the door,
With bacon rinds and chicken bones, Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peels, Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens, Soggy beans, and tangerines,
Crusts of black-burned buttered toast, Grisly bits of beefy roast.
The garbage rolled on down the halls, It raised the roof, it broke the walls,
I mean, greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, Blobs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from old bologna, Rubbery, blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry, Curdled milk, and crusts of pie,
Rotting melons, dried-up mustard, Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold French fries and rancid meat, Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high That finally it touched the sky,
And none of her friends would come to play, And all of her neighbors moved away;
And finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout Said, "Okay, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course it was too late, The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate; And there in the garbage she did hate
Poor Sarah met an awful fate That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late But children, remember Sarah Stout,
And always take the garbage out.
Rural America – check
Big city America – check
Black – check
White – check
Hispanic, Middle-Eastern, every other nationality or color – check, check, check
Churches – check
Taco Bell – check (Huntsville Monday night 07.09.18)
Homes, concerts, school, movie theaters, streets – check, check, check, check & check
It is out of control. And there is no sign of it getting better. Everyone is on edge. Everyone is scared. Everyone is looking for someone to blame. The proverbial "finger pointing" is stabbing in every direction, and yet the actual problem is being ignored. The problem is not black people or the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The problem is not white officers or white people. The problem is not guns, or gun control laws, or lack of gun control laws. Are we really so blind that we cannot see the real problem here? Let's stop beating around the bush; the problem is a godless society. We are seeing the tragic, rotten fruits of a society that is living in darkness (Galatians 5:19-22). Few are focused on God. Few are looking to His word for guidance, and until something changes, the problem will continue to get worse.
In the last 48 hours, one man killed another, after an argument at Taco Bell in Huntsville, and another tried to pull a gun, during worship at the O’neal Church of Christ right down the road. Our society has become so violent many cannot deal with any emotional disruption without resorting to violence – and hear me – it is black, white, pagan, “Christian,” young, old and everyone else in between.
It is hard to remain balanced in the swirling storm of biased opinions and raw emotions. So, what should the Christian's response be? Here are 3 things Christians can do to help clean up the trash dump this world has become:
1. Take Out the Trash. Ephesians 4:31 gives us a clear whiff of the trash we have been smelling, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slandIer be put away from you, along with all malice." First, there are tons of bitter feelings across the board, that is a large part of the problem. Toss the bitterness in the trash. Second, so many are angry and wrathful. Put this anger in the garbage. Third, the word for "clamor" means to shout with a harsh voice and the word for "slander" is the same as "abusive speech." There is no doubt we have been seeing plenty of loud, harsh and abusive speech. This behavior belongs in the dumpster. Last, but not least, "malice," which is basically doing things with evil intent. Scripture makes it very clear, "all" of this needs to be removed. Not just one side, or one type of people, but each one needs to get rid of this filth in his/her life.
2. Sanitize Everything with Kindness. As Ephesians 4 continues, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted..." (32). So much of the response and emotion pouring out is being done through fear, frustration and anger. There is an obvious lack of kindness throughout so much of this discussion. A wise person once said, "If you aren't kind, you're the wrong kind." Kindness translates to soft, gentle words and actions. And as the wisest man who ever lived once said, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1). Oh, how desperately we need soft, gentle, and kind reactions right now. They would do a lot to clean and sanitize this problem.
3. Stop Bringing the Trash Back In. Ephesians 3:32 goes on to say, "...forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Lots of people have been wronged across the board. The problem is, very few people are actually letting things go. Few are practicing forgiveness. 2,000 years ago, no one was more wronged, abused, mistreated or innocent than Christ as He hung on the cross. In some of the remaining moments of His life, Jesus uttered the words, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). The less we forgive today, the more sin will grow to need forgiveness tomorrow, and the harder it will become to forgive. In other words, the more we seek revenge, the more sinful actions will pile on to the mix. As long as it is up to us, let us stop bringing the trash back in the house and learn to live in peace, forgiving each other. After all, the Lord will without a doubt, punish those who are truly guilty. "'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). No one will go unpunished. So, let us stop bringing the filth back into this situation.
It is time to change our response. It is time to clean up the cesspool this situation has become. #PoliceLivesMatter is not fixing the problem. #BlackLivesMatter is not solving the issue. #AllLivesMatter, now that's getting us towards the right focus. But I think even this slogan can improve. See, it is not just lives we are talking about here, it is souls. People's very souls, their eternal destinations, are at risk. Let us not just be focused on their lives, but also their spiritual conditions. Le u's stand behind the slogan #AllSoulsMatter and use Ephesians 4:31-32 as a guide to our responses.
