Jesus is not a Slop Bucket
Next to our kitchen sink we have a "slop bucket." It serves in the way a garbage disposal does for most Americans: all the food scraps go in it. At least once a week we take it out before the flies congregate too much. (I’m told it was the norm of previous generations to have slop buckets in their homes.)
It seems that many Christians have a "slop bucket" when it comes to sin. We simply dump our little sins throughout the days and weeks with hardly any care at all, and then go to Jesus seeking forgiveness when things get really bad (or the slop bucket is full). We repent of our slop buckets being too full, and not really of the idolatry of our souls in finding satisfaction outside of Him. (Perhaps we need to repent of our shallow and incomplete repentance?)
The quote on Of First Importance today relates completely to our need to treat Jesus as more than a slop bucket:
“I ought to go to Christ for the forgiveness of each sin. In washing my body, I go over every spot, and wash it out. Should I be less careful in washing my soul?
I ought to see the stripe that was made on the back of Jesus by each of my sins. I ought to see the infinite pang thrill through the soul of Jesus equal to an eternity of my hell for my sins, and for all of them.
I ought to see that in Christ’s bloodshedding there is an infinite over-payment for all my sins. Although Christ did not suffer more than infinite justice demanded, yet He could not suffer at all without laying down an infinite ransom.”
—Robert Murray M’Cheyne, quoted by Andrew Bonar, Memoirs of Robert Murray M’Cheyne (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1960), 175-176.
Also see Jonathan Dodson’s reflections on "Evangelical Confession Booths "
July 12th, 2008 at 9:13 am
True. And perhaps that’s connected to so many Christians living joyless, guilt-ridden lives. We don’t repent of our “little” sins (or dump our slop bucket) often enough, and in so doing, do not return to the Cross enough.
Good food for thought.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I think the biggest reason so many American Christians lead such a joyless life is not that they don’t repent of the”little” sins, it’s because they don’t even realize that the so called “little” ones are even a sin. white lies, lust, failing to put God first. We rationalize them all away.