Poop and Sanctification

Bowls of steaming, rancid ooze, disgusting to the senses and freely placed before the feet of a holy and righteous God: That is how one friend sees his sin. The sin is the matter in the bowls. It is brought before God because that is what God wants. Yes I said that is what God wants. In Christ God does not desire we hold onto our sin. We are not to pay for it nor feel guilt and condemnation because of it. So my friend envisions bringing these heaping piles of poop into the presence of God. That is what we are told to do; when we own up to our poop He is faithful to deal with it.

In sharing about marriage John Piper notes that there will be negative things to deal with; sin and selfishness, mistakes and deep hurts that we cause our spouse. We are not to leave these undealt with. Piper portrays a pile of manure out in the backyard. When the negatives end up in our living room we are to shovel them up, carry them outside and dump them into the manure pile. This requires grabbing hold of Christ in us. We must deal in grace and forgiveness as He deals with us.

It is shocking to imagine God in his temple dealing with my poop. Easier to pretend that God doesn’t know about my crap; easier to think that He doesn’t notice. Shoveling it under the carpet will only breed worse things. God has already made us clean. Sanctified is the theological term. So we lay down our dirt freely. He has washed us. He desires we give Him all of it and accept the free gift. Holding onto our filth is what Satan wants. That is why he is called Beelzebub, translated “Lord of the Flies.”