Dirty Snow

We've had snow on the ground--the SAME snow--for over two weeks. For you northerners, that's no big deal, but in Oklahoma we close down the town when more than two flakes are forecast for the night. However, by anybody's standards, it's been painfully cold for too long.

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The snow on Christmas Eve was so beautiful, so seasonal and welcome. It was a dusty snow that lay like cotton candy on the ground and didn't clog up the highline wires like wet snow does. It brought with it dreams of jingle bells and wonderland, hot cocoa and s'mores.

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But it's still here. And it looks nothing like the above picture.

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It's now hard and crusty, like concrete. Dingy from mud and footprints. Patchy where it's evaporated or been scraped away. It's not pretty at all. It's just annoying, but we can't get rid of it.

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Some sins are like that. So enticing at first, so seemingly harmless we welcome them like friends, assuming they'll leave when we're ready. Their beauty is so dazzling it hides what we don't want to see. It's easy to forget about slick streets and and mudholes when the flakes are swirling like a geometric art form. And it's easy to excuse a bad habit, sinful indulgence, or harmful relationship when we're enamoured with the newness of it.

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But what happens when we tire of it? Does it just go away?

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That's the slippery part about which preachers rail, your mother warned, and God gives clear instruction. Humans have done everything possible to make sin more acceptable. We don't even use the term "sin" anymore. Too archaic. Too judgmental. Instead, we've renamed it, tamed it, put a bow on it, airbrushed it, and computer enhanced it in a frantic attempt to convince ourselves it's as harmless as new fallen snow.

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But like snow in the Arctic, it hardens there and refuses to budge when we've had enough. That little porn enjoyment on the side mushrooms into a failed marriage. The drinking to deaden painful emotions becomes a full-blown monster that is now calling the shots in your life. The one-time dally with the next door neighbor results in an unexpected pregnancy that destroys two families.

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One of the biggest mistakes we make is the false assumption that we can control sin. But rebellion against God is by its very nature uncontrollable. There may be no outward signs of the hold it has on you, but inside--you know. Guilt colors every relationship, self-esteem plummets, and you're afraid to pray because you know that God knows.

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When you look out your window this winter at hardened dirty snow, ask yourself if there's anything in your life that has lost its luster and needs to go. You may not be able to extricate yourself from sin's hold on you, but God can.

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And He will, but only when you totally let go of it. Completely. No last lingering looks. No regrets. No fond memories of the beauty it once held for you. You have to see it as He sees it--dirty, ugly, useless. Only then can He wash your life clean and make you once more as beautiful as the new fallen snow.

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