CLOGGED

Sometimes life's mundane tasks hold a spiritual life lesson. This time it came via my clothes dryer, which simply wouldn't dry any more! Even with an hour of “tumbling,” clothes were still damp and sour-smelling. The “sour” didn't make sense. I'd limped by, hanging clothes outside when the weather was warmer. But winter changed the rules!

Repair or buy new? It was 20 years old. Was calling a repairman—facing probably a third or half the cost of a new dryer—worth it? Then one gracious repairman offered some free “over-the-counter” advice. He said to use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of air coming out the dryer's back vent. If it was 145 degrees, the problem wasn't the dryer's ability to heat. It may be the exhaust vents to the outside. Our dryer passed the “meat thermometer” test so (groan) it had to be the vent. My husband called a company that cleans vents, but their estimate wasn't friendly to our budget. The “ugh” alternative: doing it ourselves.

After pulling a few lint blobs out of the “exhaust elbow” between the dryer and the floor, we faced Mount Everest, or maybe it was a Carlsbad Cavern. Our dryer vent traveled about twelve feet under the house to the outside. Hero Husband geared up, crawled under the house in all its filth (including a dead rat), pulled off the vent tubes and passed them out to me. He rigged up a long pole with rags on the end for me to help him ream the tubes out. We ended up pushing out more than a gallon of filthy lint. No wonder lint clogs are considered a fire danger! I tried the dryer with a fresh load of wet laundry. Back on the job!

As we progressed through this “ugh” job amidst a pandemic, I make a connection to the apostle Peter's advice on tough times and living among people with negative dispositions. “Rid yourselves,” Peter wrote, “of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander, of every kind” (1 Peter 2:1). In the original Greek, the word translated “rid” means to “cast away,” like garbage. The Message paraphrase of Eugene Peterson sharpens the image with its version of saying, “So clean house! Make a clean sweep” of these negative behaviors. Yes, like reaming out lint-clogged dryer vents.

Most folks can recall encounters with people whose hearts are clogged with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. And if we're honest with ourselves, those sins are ones we need to guard against rooting in ourselves. Instead of old rags on a long pole, we need the purging ministry of the Holy Spirit. He specializes in the warning signs that we may be getting “clogged” with pride, prejudice, and other negatives of the “self-life.”

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Your trivia of the day, answering “Who invented the clothes dryer?” In 1799, a Frenchman invented what he called a “ventilator,” a hole-pierced metal drum holding clothes and which was rolled over an open fire. (Yes, smoked clothes!) In 1892, another man invented a dryer that used heat from the stove. Then in 1935 a man came up with an oil-heated drum, then later patented both an electric and gas version. The electric dryer came out in the 1950s but at $230 each (equivalent to $2,000 in today's money) few could afford it.

EXCEPTION?

This décor saying I spotted at a local crafts store—“Be the exception”--reminded me of how word meanings can change in a generation. I grew up in times when “being the exception” usually meant flaunting school rules and social conventions. It described kids who got sent to the principal’s office for being negative or rebellious. But a similar word, exceptional, had a more positive spin. It described gifted or hard-working students. One year behind me in high school there was an exceptional teen who, every day after school, practiced the piano for several hours before doing her homework. She became a concert pianist and professor of piano at a large public university. Focused. A good steward of natural abilities she developed with hard work.

So here’s my dilemma. I want to be exceptional, in the sense of wisely developing and using the gifts and abilities God gave me. But I also want to be the exception that doesn’t practice my culture’s negative ways of dealing with discord and stress. Even though two millennia old, the advice that the apostle Peter gave about behavior is still a good measuring rod. He urged the early Christians to be the exception from the godless world around them, and to seek being positively “exceptional” in one’s daily words and actions: “Rid yourself of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (1 Peter 2:1).

These aren’t new problems. Nor is the stain of rebellion. It was one of the things that seemed to most grieve the aging, battle-worn apostle Paul as he neared the end of this life. Knowing he’d probably be executed by the Romans, Paul wrote this warning to Timothy, then nurturing the church in Ephesus:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

What a discouraging list. More discouraging, it describes our times. I take note of these words at the beginning of that quote: “Terrible times in the last days.” And there hasn’t been much improvement over centuries. But Paul suggests a road through this mess, advising believers:

*To pursue purpose, faith, patience, love and endurance such as Paul showed in his sufferings and persecution (3:10-11).

*To expect persecution if you endeavor to live a godly life in Christ Jesus (3:12).

*To trust God to equip you, through His Word, for all life’s negative challenges (3:16-17)

*To endure hardship (4:5)

*To long for Christ’s coming again (4:8).

In other words, to be the exception, as God defines things. It’s the true way to go.

DOES GOOD=GOOD?

I wasn’t sure I entirely agreed with this décor sign for sale at my local crafts store:

Do good and good will come to you.

I remembered the similar thought in Proverbs 16:7: When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies to live at peace with him.

One of my former pastors used that verse when preaching from Genesis 33 about the feud between Jacob and Esau. After many years in exile, Jacob had come home and was about to have a dreaded reunion with his twin, Esau, whom he had deceived out of the birthright. The meeting could result in his and his family’s deaths or enslavement. It could have been a rated “R” Hollywood moment with lots of violence. But they met amicably. Enemies at peace.

Few of us will face such a tense moment, but I’ve had my unwanted share of encounters with angry people. Proverbs 16:7 is generally true, but not always. I try to be a person of peace—to do good. But I’ve nursed wounds from emotionally broken people.That’s why I’m glad the apostle Peter wrote such practical letters to new churches. They, too, needed advice on getting along in an angry world. In sharing the wisdom he learned at the feet of Jesus, Peter addressed living with grace.

Good people suffer hard times, Peter wrote, “so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7). In other words, the end of the story hasn’t been published yet. Plus, he adds, persecution should prompt some self-examination: “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (2:1). It’s all part of the process of being made fit for God’s kingdom. And even when I’ve examined my heart, sought to make peace with those who oppose me, but am discouraged by their ongoing negatives—I need to remember Christ’s sufferings. The end of the story isn’t yet written.

That comforts me in my interactions with difficult people. I may do good and not get “good” in return. But coals can become diamonds, and Christ-honoring actions won’t go unrewarded. Thus Peter reminded these Christians (and me!) to keep trying to “do good”—to live as representing Christ—so that people “may see your good works and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 4:12b).

Which is another, fuller, way of saying, don’t expect instant, wonderful results to your “good works.” It’s not a matter of being good so good can come to you. Rather, it’s walking with Christ in faith, doing “good” in reflecting His character, and trusting Him in this journey to eternity.