The Dirty Bowl in the Cupboard: Lessons from the Kitchen Cabinet

I shuffled into the kitchen to fulfill my daughter’s request for cereal.

I had been up for awhile, but its safe to say I wasn’t fully awake yet. I grabbed the plastic pink bowl and set it on the counter. I saw two crusted bits of food on the edge. Meh, I can scrape that off, no bother, I thought to myself. After gathering the other necessary items, I returned to the bowl on the counter. My eyes had adjusted further to the dim light of the kitchen (and my senses stirred awake by the fresh aroma of coffee brewing) and stopped cold in my tracks.

Not only were there two crusted pieces of food on the edge of the bowl, but the whole inside of the bowl was crusted as well! I have no idea how I didn’t see it before, but there was no denying it now. No amount of fingernail-scraping would make that bowl suitable to eat from – it needed to be completely washed, and washed well.

Isn’t that how it is with our own hearts; our souls? We look at ourselves and think we’re pretty good. Sure, there are a couple of things here or there we need to work on – things that need cleaning up. We’ll be the first to admit we’re not perfect, but we’re not as bad as we could be – especially when compared to the dirty dishes still in the sink.

In the dim morning light of our lives, we take a look at ourselves and from what we can see, we can fulfill our intended functions without problem.

But once our spiritual eyes adjust to the light of the Gospel, suddenly a myriad of muck and grime are exposed. Seemingly out of nowhere, issues that have been caked on through life, trials, heat and struggle are blatantly clear – whereas before, in the dim light of our own understanding we were perfectly clean.

Just as with that pink plastic bowl, it’s tempting to toss it back into the cupboard and let someone else deal with it. After all, I have more important, more pressing matters to deal with. But the next time a bowl is needed, that crusted nasty is still going to be there needing to be dealt with.

Its the same with our personal spiritual nasty. Its so tempting to just toss it to the back of the shelf and let our future selves deal with the dirty work. But the only true remedy is to be completely washed.

To allow the cleansing waters of the Holy Spirit wash over us and do the hard – sometimes painful – work of removing the gunk, grime and stubborn stains from our hearts. To immerse ourselves in the warm, healing Word of God. To fill our hearts with the Living Water and let it soak; let it soften the muck until it washes away easily.

So, how’s your bowl looking today? Do you need to take some time out and let your heart soak?