Neglected trash produces a foul odor. Similarly, each person can accumulate garbage in the dark corners of the heart or mind. When the rubbish is exposed, a repulsive stench is released. How can we help remove the rotting garbage in someone else’s life?
My Mysterious Mind
What’s the most disgusting thing you have ever cleaned? A baby diaper poop blowout? Vomit blasted all over the room? A mess left in the house by a pet?
For me, the most disgusting cleanup job was one summer when my son needed help with a duplex he and some other college guys had rented through the previous academic year. When each had parted ways in May, they had divided the responsibilities for paying the utilities until their lease was up at summer’s end. The one who was supposed to pay the electricity bill, did not. By the time my son discovered the problem, the place had been without electricity for several weeks, disconnected due to unpaid bills.
He asked for my help cleaning out the place of any remaining things left behind by his roommates. Upon entering the duplex, we were met with a horrible stench. It was emanating from the kitchen. The contents of the freezer had not only thawed, but they had also begun to rot. A once-frozen chicken was reeking of a foul odor and overcome by maggots. Other contents were equally grotesque; I will spare you the details. I held my breath as best I could and emptied the decaying, repulsive contents of the refrigerator into garbage bags.
Cleaning poopy diapers, vomit, or pet accidents pales in comparison to the revolting process of cleaning that refrigerator. Babies have diaper disasters, people get sick and throw-up, and pets sometimes don’t put their excrement outside where we want it to be. But this repulsive garbage was avoidable and entirely not my fault. So, why, you might wonder, did I clean it?
I love my son, and I wanted to facilitate him getting his part of the deposit back. Love compelled me to help clean the disgusting, repulsive mess, the consequence of the irresponsible actions of his roommate. Here the two of us were; the responsible tenant and his helpful mother, dragging disgusting garbage from the refrigerator.
In my relationships with others, I have opened doors and been met with a repulsive stench of the neglected garbage in the back of their hearts or minds. Sometimes the foulness of what is revealed is so intense it almost knocks me backwards. I remember sitting next to a stranger on a bus in Dallas. We had both been attending a Zig Ziglar event, but we didn’t know each other. He told me about being sexually assaulted as a young boy. I listened quietly, responding compassionately, all the way to the end of his story. He concluded by telling me he had never shared this experience with anyone. That garbage had been rotting inside of him for decades. I hope being present with him was somehow helpful in cleaning it out.
I was recently on the receiving end of a barrage of verbal hostility, triggered by something I had done, but wildly out of proportion from anything offensive about my actions. As I processed the garbage hurled my way, I wondered where it was coming from. I couldn’t make sense of it being entirely my fault. Which has gotten me thinking about the garbage each of us might have hidden away in the dark recesses of our hearts or minds. Something we do might open the door to someone else’s stench, or an action of someone else might reveal the stench inside of us. Do we close the door and walk away from the repulsive stench? Or do we help remove the rotting garbage, even it’s not our responsibility?
Message of Mystery Acres
Thankfully, our private campground doesn’t often have anything repulsive. On our last visit we found the decomposing remains of a deer, scavenged by coyotes. We just walked around it. Nature will take care of that rotting garbage. Sometimes, upon opening the door to the motorhome, we are met with the odor of something dead, and I have to search for a mouse decomposing in a trap. The smell of dead things is quite repulsive.
At the end of every visit, my husband and I have our routines to prepare for departure. One of my tasks is to collect any trash and put clean liners into the wastebaskets. We consistently remove all the garbage; to leave it behind would result in a disgusting arrival when we return for another visit.
The message of Mystery Acres is to remember to take out the garbage. It’s a simple reality for our visits to the woods. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same habits when it comes to taking out the garbage in our hearts or minds. Old injuries in the heart or negative messages in the mind are left to fester and grow increasingly repulsive. Perhaps it’s time to check for garbage and do some cleaning.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
“Carry each other’s burdens.” Galatians 6: 2
Whose job is it to clean up your garbage? In disputes among family members, we have often heard someone say: “It’s not my job to clean up after you.” Another way of saying this, is “You made the mess – you clean it up.”
There’s a curious little part of Paul’s letter to the Galatians in the 6th chapter. In verse two, Paul told them to “carry each other’s burdens.” But a few short verses later, he said “each person will have to carry his own burden.” So, whose job is it to take out your trash? Am I supposed to take out your trash, or are you supposed to?
Adding the rest of verse two, the directive gets even more perplexing. After Paul wrote “carry each other’s burdens” he added “because it fulfills the law of Christ.” What does Paul mean by “law of Christ” – this phrase isn’t used anywhere else in the Bible. More on that in a bit.
I decided to investigate the original Greek words that Paul used. In the second verse, the word “burden” refers to the weight of something carried, i.e., a load of some sort. Later, in verse five, a different Greek word was used in the original text. Here the “burden” refers to an entire load, such as would be invoiced in a freight shipment. I get the sense that Paul is describing a different load in verse two than in verse five. That latter verse has a sense of finality or totality to it. The entire load of something is, ultimately, the responsibility of the individual on which it is invoiced. But what kind of load is Paul writing about? My tendency is to read these passages by helping another person with some task or project or difficulty. I’m not sure that kind of burden makes sense in the entire context of Paul’s message here.
Which got me thinking about what Jesus did. He carried the sin-burdens of everyone to the cross and paid the invoice for those burdens, in full. When He said, from the cross, “It is finished,” the direct translation is “Paid in full.” Anyone who acknowledges Jesus as the one who has paid for their sin-burdens is released from responsibility for carrying them. Each person is responsible for carrying the entire invoice for their own sin-burdens (see the fifth verse of the Galatians passage), but that invoice can be paid-in-full by Jesus, wiping out the balance owed.
When Paul directed his readers to “carry each other’s burdens” it would seem he is referring to helping other people get rid of the garbage caused by their own sins. To help someone with their sin-burden is to do what Jesus did; he carried everyone’s sin-burdens to the point of death, paying for the entire debt owed. A person cannot do exactly what Jesus did by dying for another person’s sin-burdens. But one person can help another person carry that sin-trash to Jesus.
Thus, taking some writing liberty with the original text, here is another way of thinking about what Paul is suggesting. “Help other people carry their sin-trash to Jesus, which is what He wants. He can clean out that garbage for anyone who is willing for Him to do that for them, wiping their trash invoice clean. For anyone who refuses, they will be completely responsible for the total amount of sin-trash accumulated throughout their life.”
Ancient Mystery’s Voice directs us to help other people with their sin-trash, not avoiding them because of the repulsive stench of their personal garbage.
Living in Mystery
What does it mean to live in the mystery of dealing with the repulsive stench of rotting garbage? This meaning could be explored in two ways, our own garbage and the garbage of others. For now, I will focus on the garbage in the hearts and minds of people with whom our paths intersect - other people’s garbage.
The natural reaction to encountering a foul attitude in someone else is to keep one’s distance. Much like opening the door to a fridge full of decaying chicken elicited my response of “quick, close that door!” It’s normal to want to move away from someone else’s stench and leave them alone to deal with it. After all, the garbage is their responsibility, not ours. Unfortunately, such a reaction to the problems of others doesn’t help them. In fact, they may have become so accustomed to the foul nature of their heart or mind garbage, that they don’t realize they have it. The stinky person is left carrying grudges from the past or clinging to their toxic experiences.
Another natural reaction to experiencing someone else’s stench is to react with a similar foul attitude. I have seen this in myself towards the ugliness of a friend or family member. I’m compelled to find someone else to talk to about the rottenness I’ve noticed in another. In this description of that rottenness, I demonstrate my own disgusting attitude. Having a stinky attitude about someone and sharing that stench with yet another person only spreads around the repulsive odor. A dialogue focused on “let me tell you about how awful this person’s garbage smells” doesn’t clean up that garbage, it only extends the stench.
Instead, the better response to someone else’s stinky attitude is to help them clean out their garbage. To do so means fighting the natural instinct to get away and to talk to someone else about the foulness you discovered. Using the metaphor of the stinking contents of a neglected freezer, I wanted very much to close the door, walk away, declare this is not my problem, and tell other people about it. My parental judgment engaged, I would have enjoyed telling other people about the horribly irresponsible behavior of my son’s roommate, someone else’s child. But doing that wouldn’t help anyone. The garbage remains; the stench worsens.
What does it mean to help someone else deal with their garbage? Each of us has dead things hiding in the corners of our hearts and minds. Dead things emanate a horrible odor. For people that odor isn’t literal, but it is hard to get close to someone who exudes the stench of old injuries or offenses. The more damaged the person, the more intense the repulsion. To help such a person may require professional help; something lovingly suggested by a friend or family member. However, even for the person who is getting counseling, the people who care about them can help “carry out their trash.” What this looks like is to remain present during conversations where the topic shifts to ugliness. It also means bringing the garbage-afflicted person to Jesus in your prayers. Carry the trash of others by lifting them up in your prayers to the Lord. He who carried the sin-trash of everyone desires to help.
Gathering garbage in the heart or mind is a natural consequence of living in a trash-prone world. The neglected rubbish can accumulate and produce a stench that pushes other people away. Instead of keeping our distance and talking to others about the stench we’ve noticed in someone, we can stay close and listen to them, responding in love and honesty. This isn’t easy or instinctive. Looking to Jesus as the model, we can learn to help other people with their stinky trash. May love compel us to do so.
Connecting with Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, I need help responding in love to the stinky garbage I encounter in the people you have placed in my life. I confess to reacting with judgment instead of love. Help me see the foul attitudes of others as emanating from place of injury or offense; equip me to respond with compassion, helping to carry them and their trash to You. Thank You for carrying my sin-trash to the cross. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. I suggest you ponder Paul’s letter to the Galatians, especially the sixth chapter.
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