“When we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.” 1 Corinthians 4:13

Yesterday was garbage day. Garbage day is a little different than it used to be. The county recently delivered garbage cans on wheels that we can wheel out to the curb. The truck comes by, and a lifter picks it up and dumps it into the top of the truck. It is fully automated so the driver needs no help and needs not get out of the truck. But I have a problem.

Yesterday I walked out to the street to lift the lid to see if the garbage truck had come by so I could wheel my monstrous trash can back from the road. Each time I lifted the lid, I could see my 1 bag of trash WAY down in the bottom. I guess I should have ordered the smaller can! Add that can to my recycle can, and I have room for a LOT of garbage and waste!

In listening to a young man talk last week he was emptying his trash to someone he trusted. I heard him say that he is not really liked very much, and that his former friends now get together, without him, to talk about him. Feeling bad for the guy, I decided to give him some hope. I asked if his old friends were Christians, he emphatically said, ‘no!’

There is no good news about learning the bad news about receiving and passing on the Good News. Today’s verse makes it clear, and my experience is verification. To the ‘lost’ of the world, Christians smell like trash! It’s true. Being a sheep, gives off a smell the world can catch from very far away.

When I came to Christ I was told that Heaven was a free gift that I only had to RECEIVE! AFTER I received it, I came to find out that LIFE was the most expensive prize on earth… costing me EVERYTHING! I am continually learning that EVERYTHING is a very cheap price to pay for Jesus. Even if I look like trash to the world. What garbage are YOU holding onto?