This post was contributed by Kevin Schrapel and is the author’s personal opinion.

Who’d be a toilet brush?

Consigned to the back corner of that room, waiting for you-know-what, only to be used and stood back in the corner to wait until next time.

Whether fancy or plain, it makes no difference.

Either brush faces the same degrading fate of being used for its intended use, to clean away filth and create something shiny, clean and presentable.

Now let’s stop and look at the son of God.

He was born in a stable in a back corner of the country.

He grew up in a town of which the question was asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

This Jesus took a hammering.

He was ridiculed, made fun of, and suffered physical and verbal abuse.

Then they nailed him up on a cross of wood and yelled abuse and taunts at him as he hung there, bleeding, gasping for breath, in great pain, until he finally died.

Why?

One reason and one reason only: love, his love for his heavenly father and his love for all people. 

The hurtful things we do and say can build up and, like a bad smell, separate us from each other and a loving God.

Equally, not having a heart for love and compassion can cause a bad smell of separation, not just between people, but worse, a separation from God.

Sadly we can do nothing about this life-spoiling smell ourselves.

Jesus is the only one who can clean things up and make us acceptable to God, who only wants what is good for us. 

The toilet brush eventually becomes tattered, is thrown out and replaced with a new one.

When Jesus died on that cross, the religious leaders, the hate-mongers and the jeering crowd thought they had gotten rid of him.

But as history and the Bible tells us, he came back, not to haunt people, but to demonstrate he was who he said he was: the son of the living God.

He came back from the grave to demonstrate he had the power to forgive sins and present all those who trusted in all he said and did as cleaned-up people who could enjoy being close to God and his love, both now and after their death; not because of anything we might do, but by all Jesus, in love, has done to make us shiny and clean in the eyes of God.

A life made clean by Jesus is also a sweet-smelling life to God. 

Talk to Jesus about where your life might need a bit of a scrub-up, and be thankful when he does.

God bless.

You can help keep local stories like this one free for everyone to read. Subscribe to Murray Bridge News today and support your independent, locally owned news service, plus get access to exclusive stories you won’t find anywhere else, for just $5.50 a month.