Don’t ask me how it got there, but all I know was that I found a clothespin on the dining table.
But there was something different about this clothespin. It couldn’t stand on its own like most normal clothespins.
But then I saw why:
As you can see in the above picture, there’s a little bump on the clothespin’s “leg.” Because of that small bump, the clothespin couldn’t stand.
Clothespin Christians
As I thought about this clothespin and its little bump, Jesus’ words in Matthew chapter 5 came to my mind:
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
(Matthew 5:29-30)
An eye and a hand are just little body parts, but if they cause us to sin, Jesus tells us to cut them out–or they’ll cause us to fall out. Now, that doesn’t mean we should literally be plucking out our eyes and literally cutting off our hands. What Jesus is saying is that if there’s things in your life and in my life that are causing us to sin, we must take them out of our lives.
And that includes even the littlest things like watching something that doesn’t lead you closer to God, or reading books that feed more of your carnal nature rather than your spiritual nature, or anything that appears really small–but still has the potential to cause you to sin!
Just like that clothespin couldn’t stand up because of that little bump, we as Christians are in the same danger of having little “bumps,” little sins, little negative choices that may disable us to stand.
Cutting Off The Bump
Well, I decided to cut off the bump from the poor clothespin. So I got a pair of scissors and snipped the bump off from the clothespin’s “leg.” Now it was able to stand.
And as Christians, God wants to do the same for us. He also uses the scissors of trial to cut off the little sinful bumps in our characters. I like how this statement from the devotional, To Be Like Jesus, puts it:
“In seasons of temptations we seem to lose sight of the fact that God tests us that our faith may be tried, and be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus. The Lord places us in different positions to develop us. If we have defects of character of which we are not aware, He gives us discipline that will bring those defects to our knowledge, that we may overcome them……………….It is coming in contact with difficulties that will give you spiritual muscle and sinew. You will become strong in Christ if you endure the testing process and the proving of God. But if you find fault with your situation and with everybody around you, you will only grow weaker. I have seen people who were always finding fault with everything and everybody around them, but the fault was in themselves. They had need to fall upon the Rock and be broken. They felt whole in their own self-righteousness. The trials that come upon us come to prove us. The enemy of our souls is working against us continually, but our defects of character will be made manifest to us, and when they are made plain, instead of finding fault with others, let us say, ‘I will arise and go to my Father.’
~To Be Like Jesus page 210 (July 16 Devotional)~
When we begin to realize that we are sinners, and fall on the Rock to be broken, the everlasting arms are placed about us, and we are brought close to the heart of Jesus. Then we shall be charmed with His loveliness, and disgusted with our own righteousness. We need to come close to the foot of the cross. The more we humble ourselves there, the more exalted will God’s love appear.”
Friend, in order to firmly stand up in these last days, we must be firmly cut down first.
A Prayer To Be Cut
If it’s your desire, dear reader, to allow God to cut off the sinful little bumps within your heart, then I wanna appeal to you to just pray this simple prayer below:
I’d like to conclude this blog post with a verse that I hope and pray will encourage you to take some serious time to ask God to search out the little bumps in your heart and ask Him to help you cut off these bumps for you:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
(Psalm 139:23-24)
Amen! Maranatha!
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