One Greater Than These Is Here

Did you know that the correct way to deal with dirty dishes is to wash them, dry them, and put them away, after every meal? Yes, indeed, that is the right way to take care of that matter. If you don’t do that, you are wrong. You may well go through your whole life without washing the dishes after every meal, but you feel guilty, every time you look in the vicinity of your kitchen sink.

Ah, your conscience says. Those dirty dishes shouldn’t be sitting there.

Some have decided that if you have very few dishes, it’s acceptable to wash them immediately after your last meal of the day. That is actually more efficient, so it’s alright.

Well, come on, have you ever noticed how addicted we are to rules and laws? Thou shalt not color thine hair, thou shalt not drive a purple car, thou shalt not spend more money on yourself than what I spend on myself, and thou shalt not have more fun than I do. Jeepers, but don’t we have a rule for everything.

Even if we don’t admit it, our judgmental little minds tell us all our rules, when they condemn someone who doesn’t follow them.

And sometimes I think that people who “believe in” grace are the worst of the lot.

We are so addicted that we’ll grab little comments and statements out of anyplace in the Bible that we can find them, and make them into a rule. Paul tells a parable about the relationship between God, Christ, a man, and his wife, and the next thing you know, we have a rule about how long your hair is supposed to be! Actually, we’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of that one. We made rules about hair, about hats, about praying, about women, and about angels. (Boy, we were really efficient with that one.) We read, “Do not be drunk with wine” and decide that it’s sinful to drink alcohol. Jesus tells of how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom, and we’ve made up our mind it’s wrong to be rich. Someone says something about prospering and being in health, even as your soul prospers, and now we have a yardstick for judging people’s spiritual well-being: if they’re healthy and wealthy, they must be spiritual!

And then, and then, if the Lord specifically speaks to us about something in our own life, especially if He uses a scripture to do it, do we ever get on a rampage, then! It is so hard to be content to live our own lives “secretly,” before and unto the Lord. In the moments we do, we have a blast, but we rarely do that.

So I’m publicly stating that I do not wash my dishes until right before I go to bed. The warm, soapy water helps me wind down for the night.

Some days, I don’t wash them at all.

Because One greater than these dishes is here.

Thank you!

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