Long before the days of the vacuum cleaner, rug beaters were commonly used as a cleaning tool to rid a home from dust, dust mites and other little nasty bugs that could infest a person’s house and cause discomfort or make for an unsightly home. To clean the rugs, one would drag them outside (well away from the house), hang them on a line and then use what looked like a giant metal flyswatter to beat out the dust. It was hard, time-consuming, dirty work that seemed almost counterproductive at times, since you would drag half the dust back in the house after it clung to your sweat-covered body.
When I was growing up, we had a vacuum and did not need to beat the rugs. Yet, one day while rummaging through an attic, we found one of these rug beaters. Mom explained what it was, and we set about the task of beating the dust out of every rug in the house, just for fun. Of course, the fun ended rather abruptly when we were covered with dust and started coughing. It was, however, amazing to see the amount of dust that came out of the rugs. We normally never got to see it, since it was usually sucked up into a bag and eliminated pretty much without us having to witness it. We were stunned at just how much dust came out, filled the air and choked us.
As children of God, purity must be our constant pursuit. Oddly enough, it seems that at times we want purity while never having to beat the dust out. We want maturity while never putting forth any effort to actually move toward maturity. Why? Because such endeavors are painful and often heart wrenching, requiring vast amounts of energy and commitment.
Instead, we treat God as if he were some cosmic vacuum for the soul, who has no interest in us actually seeing or dealing with the dirt and the impurities in our lives or the effort required to help us grow. He silently and carefully vacuums them away without us ever even knowing about them. We lay all the dust and work off on Him.
Folks, salvation is surely from God (Ephesians 2:8), just as it is God alone who takes away our sins. Yet, may we ever be reminded of the fact that there is an obligation on our part to beat the rug of our heart and expose the impurity. Paul said, “Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith…” (2 Corinthians 13:5). We must look inside, see clearly what sin is, and then lay it before Him. Is it hard? Sure it is. Yet, it is certainly no harder than being nailed to a cross for those very sins, which Christ did for each of us so that the sins, once exposed, can be eliminated.
In this day, may we realize that out of great pain and effort grows the wonderful blessings and pathway of God. May we realize that the “strait [difficult, hard-pressed] and narrow” is that way for a reason. It is difficult because it leads to fullness of understanding, which leads to life.
