Have you ever driven by on bulk pick up day, and seen a couch that used to have a place of honor in someone’s living room, and now it is lying on the grass on its side? Usually, the couch has rips, stains, stuffing may be missing, the integrity of the structure has been worn down and made no longer useable. We stare, laugh and wonder how was this couch in that family’s living room? How could they have tolerated the dirt, stains, rips and ugliness of this couch? This is the picture that I have in my head as I prepare for Passover this year.
That couch on the side of the road didn’t start out all gross, smelling of dog/cat, ripped, stained and broken. When it was first purchased it was perfect! The fabric was whole, the scotch guard worked its magic and it was looked at with pride. I can’t help but feel that this is the sad state of many of us as we approach Passover. How have we gotten to this point? How have we neglected ourselves and slowly moved so far from our Father?
One of the things that I always struggle with in our living room is having enough light. No matter how many lamps I have on, when nightfall comes, it is always difficult to really see things clearly. The couch in the living room may start to look dingy, worn, and old but, because of the lack of light we don’t notice it. The same thing is true of us. When we don’t have the light in our lives, we don’t notice what is happening to us. When we have moved away from reading the word or spending time with the Lord, His light is dimmed in our lives. That’s when we operate on our own terms and don’t notice how stained, ripped, dirty and ugly we’ve become. I love Luke 8:17, which says, “For nothing is concealed that will not become evident, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light”. When that couch hits the curb everything that was tolerated and ignored can no longer be excused, out in the sunshine.
Another reason that we don’t notice the state that we’re in is, we’ve become accustomed to our sin. We have become fond of the stains, rips, smell and the brokenness that has become our life. The things that we wouldn’t have uttered, the things we wouldn’t have watched, the thoughts that we wouldn’t have entertained have become normalized. We have become comfortable with the things that God has said are wrong. Intimacy with our sin, instead of our God has been chosen. The couch sits in our living room giving us comfort, acceptance, and in reality, it needs to be placed at the curb!
This year, as we prepare for Passover, let’s not just clean our homes but, prepare our hearts and search out the chametz (leaven) that has infiltrated our hearts. This chametz has found its way into hidden areas, dark areas, wide open areas and areas that you have struggled with for long periods of time. Chametz (leaven) has always symbolized sin in the bible, and in 1 Corinthians 5:8 we are given a charge on how to celebrate Passover, “Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”