All Clogged Up

My junior year of college I moved into an apartment off of Old Brownsboro Rd in what my roommates & I considered "quasi-old Louisville". It wasn't downtown or within walking distance of the University, but we could bike if we woke up feeling ambitious. As extremely broke students, our aparment was tiny, & furnished with only the literal neccessities. But, it was dirt cheap considering what we'd all paid for our previous place, so we were beyond thankful. After about two months of living there, things started to get dusty really fast. (I like things clean, so I noticed.) We started to smell something funny coming from the slot in the air duct where the filter goes. SO, we decided to check the air filter. Novel idea, right? When we pulled it out of its place, dust and particles flew everywhere & all of us commenced a fifteen minute coughing fit. It was ridiculous. SO, we put it back & called the landlord to have it replaced. There were 13 units in the building, & the landlord was a 33 year old semi-newlywed seminary student with three tiny children. Needless to say, it was several weeks longer before the filter was changed. We could breathe, though, so it wasn't really worth a fuss.

The thing is, I passed a stack of filters once a week on my way to the laundry room in the basement. I can actually recall thinking, "Well there they are, so what's taking so long to bring one upstairs?" That laziness is embarassing when I step back from myself & see it clearly now. I could have grabbed one, changed it myself, & called Andy to tell him it was taken care of. We could have been breathing much cleaner air.

Sure, the air in our apartment wasn't hazardous to our health. No one developed any sort of rare lung condition or had to up their daily Claritin doses. BUT, it could have been purer. Clearer. The filter could have been doing what it was designed to do. Our silly negligence put that off.

I've been thinking today about the filter in my life. I know that the Word of God says that, as a believer, I have the Holy Spirit alive within me. He is the greatest filter I could ever hope to have actively purging me of what does not belong by way of conviction & guidance as I submit to Him. But, even in submission, I wonder what I have in my life that's clogging the filter from doing what it was deposited in me to do? Maybe they're not even quote-on quote "bad" things. Just extras that I put there for no reason. They're not hurting anything, but they're not adding anything of worth.

Airway obstructions.

The Scriptures call the things that are worth having in our lives "profitable". The word profitable implies that an item has the potential to yield advantageous returns or results. Why do we waste our time, energy, thought, worry, excitement, or love (among other things) on anything that doesn't fit that description? Now, I'm not talking about worldly or selfish gain. Think of gain in terms of heavenly things. Kingdom glory. Jesus' fame in this place. Bringing you closer to Him. Challenging those you love (in every way) to choose Him constantly. I want to de-clog. I want to be given eyes to see what is not-for-profit in my life & I want to throw off the laziness of just letting the extras remain. I want to see what I can do, in obedience, to make the most profit of what IS profitable. My friendships, my family, my service, my time with the Lord...

I want to. And, like the air filter, I can...if I will.

"On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." 1 Tim. 4:7-8

Lord, I pray that we will be a people who live to show everyone we meet, with everything they see in us, that You are satisfying. That the enemy's buffet cannot hold a candle to Your banquet. Te amo.