“And they polluted the house of the Lord that He had made Holy in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 36:14b
We live in a world where pollution is a hot topic. Polluting the water, polluting the land, polluting the air, polluting the environment. There is no doubt that as the global population grows at an exponential rate, the generating of debris, refuse, and industrial by-products will skyrocket as well. In the U.S., the pollution trend hit it’s crescendo on June 22, 1969 when Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, a place of rampant dumping for sewage and industrial waste, caught fire. The entire river, so polluted with chemicals, waste, sewage, and industrial remnants, when sparked from a nearby railroad, burned with flames as high as 5 stories. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency was formed to monitor and control the, at the time, unabated and uncontrolled growth of pollution. The word pollution is defined as “to defile, corrupt, or contaminate.” Considering this definition and our example of the Cuyahoga River, it is so very hard to read in 2 Chronicles 36 that because of sinful human rebellion towards God, the Temple of the Lord had become polluted. When we think of pollution we immediately think of the physical environment, garbage and chemical exhausts that contaminate the very air we breathe. But what about spiritual pollution? What about defiling and corrupting the Law of God with the sewage of human sin? That’s just how God sees the prideful rejection of His laws and statutes. As filthy pollution before His eyes. You see, just as an Earthly Father, our Heavenly Father does not place His Words in our life to harsh our fun, limit our freedom, or stop the party, it’s just the opposite. God, our Heavenly Father, can see well into our tomorrows and He clearly sees the pitfalls that our own prideful sin will cause us. He can clearly see the accumulation of sinful pollution in our lives, and He desires for us to avoid the mess. Instead of cleaning up the accumulation of the pollution of sin in our lives, God desires for us to simply avoid it in the first place. Are you embroiled in the pollution of sin today? The world and what it offers can ensnare our fleshly desires before you can blink. Money, power, material goods, pornography, status, sex, alcohol, drugs, and the base of all sin, our own selfish pride, can have our lives looking like the Cuyahoga River before you even know it. But the effects of spiritual pollution can be reversed. God in His perfect love made a way. Jesus Christ came to this planet, the very Son of God, to live a perfect sin-free life and die on a Cross to pay the penalty of the pollution of your sin. He was raised three days later, triumphing over the death that all sin brings. And He did this so that all that call upon His name as their Savior in faith, can be saved from their sin. It’s that simple, a gift, a miracle of eternal redemption…all for you. Today, refuse to live a polluted life of sin, call upon the name of Jesus Christ and instead choose to live a Holy Spirit infused life that will guide you through the sinful snares of this life. For in this way, you will not be forced to endure costly, major clean-ups later, but instead be afforded to live a pure life with Jesus as your Lord. A life that is as refreshing as a deep inhale of clean, crisp ocean breeze.
“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1
Comments