Taking Out the Trash

It is amazing how much trash collects around a church. Really. I am dumbfounded at all of the boxes of things that someone at one point thought "We might use this again." Over the course of this last year I have had my music librarian archiving and cataloguing our music library. This has been no small task and we are nearing the completion of the largest section (SATB choral anthems). But we have this room that is at the bottom of the stairs in the furthest recesses of the church that is an all-around junk room and it is filled with music. Most of the music is stuff that nobody would ever want. You know, stuff that was "contemporary" or what was passing for contemporary church music in the '70s. It is not bad music, just stuff that will never be used again. Now, not everything that is old is bad by any means, but some things are so timely that they become obsolete shortly after they are published. I wonder a lot about the shelf life of several of our more popular contemporary worship songs. None of us are really singing those spiritual warfare songs that were so popular in the late '80s (can you say "Mighty Warrior'?) and I am sure that several of the songs we do today will be like those good old songs soon enough.

Well, the process of taking out the trash in our lives is just as significant. I used to be a real pack rat (and many who would venture into my office today might suggest that I still am). I would keep magazines for many years because, you never know when you might need something from them again. Well, that day never came. I admit that I threw out a lot of things before I moved to Florida. Then, after moving, we threw away a whole lot more. Used to be we would wait and have a garage sale. Nowadays, we just pile it up in the SUV and take it to Goodwill. I think this has been good for me to learn what is really important and what is not.

All this garbage talk reminds me of two passages in the Scriptures that talk about running the race. The Apostle Paul tells us that in order for us to "press on toward the goal to win the prize" we have to forget "what is behind." (Philippians 3:13-14) If we don't release our pasts we have to carry them along with us and that is not healthy for us emotionally or physically. The writer of the book of Hebrews also reminds us to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith . . . " (Hebrews 12:1-2) If only we could really live this way. Forgetting what is behind and only looking forward to the future.

So, my prayer for you today is that you would be able to take out the trash that is in your life and allow Christ to replace it with something new and better. I may not enjoy cleaning up what feels like someone else's mess, but it is a wonderful cleansing act to just get rid of all the junk that I have to wade through to get to the good stuff. It is amazing that I find something good every time I go to the "scary room" at the bottom of the stairs. Pretty soon, I will find nothing but good things there, because the past will be completely in the past.