From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
Back in the summer I woke up one Monday deciding that I would finally deal with a pile of old, partially-decomposed railroad ties.
A friend from church came with his pick-up truck and my son and I loaded the ties on to the truck’s bed.
However, to our surprise and disappointment, the municipality’s transfer station would not take them.
They would not take my money to dispose of them.
“They are soaked in creosote” the man said, “and that makes them hazardous waste.”
I made several phone calls around town and to other places in the Municipality, but nobody would take my garbage.
After over an hour and a half of driving, and several phone calls all leading to dead ends, we returned home and my son and I unloaded the unwanted pile of rubbish back into my backyard.
We were right back where we had started.
Under no circumstances was I able to get rid of my garbage, as nobody was equipped to deal with the apparent environmental fallout.
Sin is a lot like those rotten railroad ties in my backyard.
Sin ruins lives and gets in the way, but when you want to unload your sin, nobody is willing to take it… almost!
The good news is that Jesus Christ already paid for our sin.
What we didn’t want and couldn’t use, He took care of it all.
Here is a modern rendering of Colossians 2:13, taken from The Message: “When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive – right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven…”.
I took Jesus up on His offer over 35 years ago as a high school student, confessing my sins and letting Him take my life’s garbage.
I am still stuck with those ugly railroad ties, but at least my real garbage is no longer a problem.
