Blog
“Disgusting”
Categories: Bulletin Articles, M. W. Bassford
I am. I know it. ALS robs its victims of dignity along with everything else. Because I am immobile these days, I have developed the peculiar stench that immobile people have. My sister-in-law, who is an occupational therapist, calls it “stroke stink”.
Bathing me is a trial for Lauren, and it can't be as effective as when I washed myself. I am frequently unshaven, and my hair is often awry. I can't go to the bathroom by myself.
When I eat, I dribble crumbs all over my clothes, my chair, and the floor. Consequently, Boomer loves me even more than he used to. During mealtimes, he sits and watches me like a canine vulture, eagerly anticipating the bounty that he knows will soon be his.
Oh, how my God has brought me low!
Nonetheless, the people around me do not treat me poorly despite ample reason to do so. They turn a blind eye (and nose) to my many disgusting attributes and show me profound kindness and love. Along with numerous other passages that I did not understand until I experienced them, I now understand Galatians 4:13-14. I am humbled by my condition, but I am humbled even more by the grace that others have shown me.
Thank you, all of you.
As always, human goodness is but an echo of divine goodness. We are aware that God hates sin, but we don't think as often about how much it disgusts him. Perhaps this is a symptom of pride in us. Admitting that we are hateful is one thing; acknowledging that we are disgusting is another.
However, many Scriptures testify that God does indeed regard sin with disgust. consider, for instance, Ezekiel 16 and 23. Both chapters are hard to read. They present the spiritual adultery of God's people in the terms of the grossest immorality. The language is shocking, almost pornographic. Many Christians wonder why he would put such a thing in the Bible.
Of course, this appalling language is hardly gratuitous. God wants us to be appalled as we read it. He wants us to be disgusted. He wants us to feel in the pits of our stomachs the way that he feels when he regards our sin.
And yet, the message of the Bible is not a message of disgust. It is a message of grace despite disgust. God loathes our sin, but He surrendered the most valuable thing He had to rescue us in our loathsome condition.
The other day, I was talking to a brother who was so sick about his past sins that he couldn't believe that God would ever value and prize him. He was right about the sins. They are even worse than he imagined.
However, he was wrong about God. We can never be so disgusting that God will cease to love us. We can never be so stained with sin that his mercy cannot purify and renew us. The kindness of others is precious to me, but the kindness of God is infinitely more precious to all of us.
I am. I know it. ALS robs its victims of dignity along with everything else. Because I am immobile these days, I have developed the peculiar stench that immobile people have. My sister-in-law, who is an occupational therapist, calls it “stroke stink”.
Bathing me is a trial for Lauren, and it can't be as effective as when I washed myself. I am frequently unshaven, and my hair is often awry. I can't go to the bathroom by myself.
When I eat, I dribble crumbs all over my clothes, my chair, and the floor. Consequently, Boomer loves me even more than he used to. During mealtimes, he sits and watches me like a canine vulture, eagerly anticipating the bounty that he knows will soon be his.
Oh, how my God has brought me low!
Nonetheless, the people around me do not treat me poorly despite ample reason to do so. They turn a blind eye (and nose) to my many disgusting attributes and show me profound kindness and love. Along with numerous other passages that I did not understand until I experienced them, I now understand Galatians 4:13-14. I am humbled by my condition, but I am humbled even more by the grace that others have shown me.
Thank you, all of you.
As always, human goodness is but an echo of divine goodness. We are aware that God hates sin, but we don't think as often about how much it disgusts him. Perhaps this is a symptom of pride in us. Admitting that we are hateful is one thing; acknowledging that we are disgusting is another.
However, many Scriptures testify that God does indeed regard sin with disgust. consider, for instance, Ezekiel 16 and 23. Both chapters are hard to read. They present the spiritual adultery of God's people in the terms of the grossest immorality. The language is shocking, almost pornographic. Many Christians wonder why he would put such a thing in the Bible.
Of course, this appalling language is hardly gratuitous. God wants us to be appalled as we read it. He wants us to be disgusted. He wants us to feel in the pits of our stomachs the way that he feels when he regards our sin.
And yet, the message of the Bible is not a message of disgust. It is a message of grace despite disgust. God loathes our sin, but He surrendered the most valuable thing He had to rescue us in our loathsome condition.
The other day, I was talking to a brother who was so sick about his past sins that he couldn't believe that God would ever value and prize him. He was right about the sins. They are even worse than he imagined.
However, he was wrong about God. We can never be so disgusting that God will cease to love us. We can never be so stained with sin that his mercy cannot purify and renew us. The kindness of others is precious to me, but the kindness of God is infinitely more precious to all of us.
