CLOGGED

I had an “oh-oh” moment while browsing a handyman magazine. (Yes, they’re traditionally men’s magazines, but I really like their humor page where readers confess their major home project goofs.) The “oh-oh” moment came with an article on dryer vent fires from vinyl exhaust tubes under the house.  Yes, we were in trouble. A few weeks ago that fix-it job got marked off our handyman list with a new metal tube under the house to the foundation vent.  I couldn’t believe the lint buildup in the old vinyl tube, a fire waiting to happen. Unlike cars, houses don’t have “need attention” lights to blink urgent needs.

When I saw that buildup (the crazy way my brain sometimes works) I thought of a verse memorized a long time ago:

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this [referring to the new heaven and new earth, vv. 11-13) make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:14)

What a goal: “spotless, blameless, and at peace with him [God].” I thought of people who wound others with lies and anger, then later excuse their wrongdoing by saying something like,  “Sorry, but I was having a bad day.” They give no hint of a contrite or repentant heart that would try to change that behavior. When I read this passage, I pause at the phrase “make every effort.”  In the original Greek, it’s spoudazo, meaning  “to hasten to do a thing, to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence.” I think we can see those attributes in athletic events. There’s an honest and diligent effort to do better.

So where does the old dryer vent tube come in? I think it’s this: that our spiritual walks as immature or disobedient Christians let a lot of these sins pile up, blocking a clear and unsullied witness.  It’s sad, for example, when it might be said of someone, “He says he’s a Christian, but what a grouchy disposition.”  Or, “I see them in church, but their life choices sure don’t match up with what the Bible teaches.”

For clogged plastic vent pipes, there’s only one solution: complete replacement, preferably with a metal pipe without accordion ridges that would trap the lint. In the spiritual realm, that’s the counterpart of the “new birth”:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).