By Matt Ayars
Every family has a junk drawer. The junk drawer is home to the scissors, Scotch tape, postage stamps, dried up pens, dull pencils, rubber bands, fingernail clippers, paperclips, Post-its, the eyeglass repair kit, and of course, the phone charger. I have a junk drawer in my office desk that I purge every few months. Just about every time I purge my junk drawer, the very next day I need something I just tossed. Universe, 10; Matt, 0.
When we deal with sin in our lives, it’s like purging the junk drawer. Lent is the time in the Christian calendar to purge the junk drawer.
Sin is embarrassing, awkward, and painful to deal with, which is why we would rather just forget about it and allow it to go unnoticed and untreated. We bury the guilt and pain deep down like a paperclip in a junk drawer. Wounds, too, are like sin. When we don’t deal with them, they go from being minor sores with a dull ache to gaping, infected wounds that end up dictating our behavior, moods, attitudes, and our future.
This is what the prophet Isaiah is talking about when he describes the sinful, rebellious state of Judah by saying, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil” (Is. 1:5b–6, ESV). Like in Judah’s case, if we are not rigorous and diligent about treating the sin-wounds in our lives, they will wreck us. Sin ravages everything. Sin goes for the throat.
Lent is the perfect time to deal with this untreated sin in our lives because during Lent, as a special time of prayer and fasting, we quiet ourselves in order to focus on the Holy Spirit’s voice and instruction for getting rid of that sin and those habits that we’ve long neglected. Lent is a time to be courageous enough to bear the pain that comes with healing. It is a time to courageously allow the Great Physician to masterfully repair us and set our feet firmly on the path towards healing.
We find our courage in looking to Jesus who set his face to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Jesus had the faith and courage to go to the Cross. For Jesus, the pain was worth it.
The key difference between us and Jesus, however, is that he didn’t need courage to deal with the pain of his own sin, but to redeem the pain of ours.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Is. 53:5, ESV).