The Weekly Word: Let’s talk about dirt

By Robert Williams, Lead Pastor at The Bridge Church

I grew up in a family that didn’t really mind dirt all that much. We kind of lived by the motto that “God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt.”

Don’t get me wrong. We weren’t scurvy or gross. We practiced good hygiene for the most part. We just weren’t afraid to get dirty because we knew that just about anything would wash.

Here’s something I’ve learned about dirt, though. It’s always easier to live in our own dirt. And not only that, it’s always easier to criticize other people for their dirt.

Let me give you an example.

Before I was a pastor I used to be a truck driver. Years ago, when I started working at a new company, I was assigned a truck. And I was pretty excited about it until I got into that truck.

To put it nicely, it was filthy. The floor was covered in dust and grime, the cup holders were covered in a mess of coffee/soda residue, and the seats… Well, the seats weren’t much better. When I got in that truck, all I could think was, “How can anyone work this way?”

So, I spent the first week on the job cleaning that truck. I vacuumed it out. I cleaned the windows. I wiped everything down. I mean, I even got the Armor All wipes out! By the time I was finished that thing was spotless! Until a few months later. …

A few months later I was driving down the road, minding my own business, listening to a podcast, and for one reason or another I just began looking around my truck as I cruised along.

As I did so I found dust and grime on the floor. I found residue on the cup holders, and dust just all over the inside of the cab from all of the gravel roads I’d been driving down.

It was then that I thought, “Oh, that’s how people work like that!”

It’s so much easier to live in our own dirt. And not only that, it’s so much easier to criticize other people for their own dirt. This is true in trucking, and it’s true in life. How often have you caught yourself frowning at someone else for their dirt? I’m talking about judgment.

How often have you criticized the mom at the store for her misbehaving children? How often have you looked down on the guy who’s got a bit more of a foul mouth than you’re used to? How quickly are you to scowl at the pregnant teen? How easily do you shake your head at someone for their sin?

This all reminds me of some of Jesus’ most famous words. We find them in His sermon on the mount:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

— Matthew 7:1-5 NIV

God calls us not to judge one another, but rather to check our plank, first.

Now, the mistake here would be to say that Jesus is telling us not to worry about the sins of others, but he doesn’t say that. Instead, he calls us to deal with our own sin first.

Which brings about the question: How seriously do you take your own sin? I think we live in a culture right now that is doing all it can to allow sin, brush over sin, and even justify sin.

But Scripture is clear that, “The wages of sin is death.”

So, let me ask it another way: How seriously do you take your own dirt? How broken are you over your sin? Can you even see it? Are you better at criticizing others for their dirt, or asking God to help you deal with your own?

The good news? Jesus died for our dirt. But we have to repent of it on a regular basis.

Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Contrite means to feel or express remorse. Only when we are truly broken over our own sin can we begin to help others deal with theirs.

So, how big is your plank?