Sue was helping load the dishwasher after dinner. She filled the top rack and pushed it in and began pushing in the already-filled bottom rack. “Why won’t this rack roll in, Mom?” she asked.
“There must be something sticking out or up,” answered her mother as she washed in the sink the pots and pans that wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher.
“I don’t see anything,” said Sue, still pushing harder.
“Well, there’s got to be something there holding it,” said her mother, bending over the dishwasher and jiggling the rack back and forth. But she didn’t see anything either. She jiggled the rack once again, and then light glinted off something shiny underneath it.
“There it is! It’s a knife blade hanging down and catching on the heating element.” Mom pulled out the knife and laughed as she held it up. “That’s the end of that paring knife,” and she laid it on the kitchen counter. The blade was bent almost to look like the letter “C.”
Is there something in your life which keeps you from functioning as you should? Don’t just try to push ahead without finding the problem. God wants you to stop and take a look at your life in the light of His Word, the Bible. God is light, and He will show you that what is wrong in your life is sin. But God is also love. God loves you so much that He sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for sin, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).
Now the bottom rack rolled in easily and the dishwasher was soon busy at its job of washing its load of dishes. Mom turned to the sink to continue scrubbing the pots and pans.
Sue picked up the bent knife and felt badly because she had ruined it. Maybe I could straighten it, she thought, so she began to push hard on the blade. Instead of the blade straightening, it suddenly snapped, and the broken end jabbed into her hand at the base of the thumb, leaving a big, bleeding gash. Mom grabbed a clean towel and Sue pressed it on her hand to stop the bleeding.
“How can I be so stupid?” Sue asked herself. “It wasn’t worth it to try to fix that old knife.”
But some of us are still trying to fix up our old, sinful lives when we really need a brand new one. We need to be “born again” by the Word of God which lives and lasts forever. The Lord Jesus says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” John 3:5-75Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:5‑7).
Have you been born again? Do you have a new life that only God can give? Or are you trying to fix up your old sinful life? God says it can’t be fixed. “Verily, verily [truly, truly], I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God [or heaven].” John 3:33Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3).
ML-12/04/1988