Isn’t it amazing the things people remember from their childhood? My dad use to rip off one-liners all the time and what’s startling is that I still remember them. When I protested of chores he would say, “There are some things in life you have to do even if you don’t like it.” Or “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about.” Some of his sayings were meant for encouragement, others were threats. They usually worked.The other day when I was getting ready for a meeting I got some polish out to put a new coat on my dull and dusty shoes. Before applying I heard my dad say, “Son, you can’t shine over dirt.” Instinctively I got up and got a moist cloth to clean my shoes before I smeared on the black. I dwelled on that saying while I continued my chore. What a great principle for life, I thought.
We all know that most of God’s creatures spend a lot of time trying to keep the shine on. In a social setting I find it fascinating, and times a bit annoying, listening to people go on and on about their life, their career, their kids, their importance. They spend so much time talking about themselves it never occurs to them to ask about you, your life or story. Some people work really hard at projecting their shine by the clothes they wear and the accessories that are meant to impress. But for many, under that shine is a lot of dirt.
In the news recently there is a story of an evangelical leader who seemingly had it all -- pastor of a large church, beautiful family, invitations even to the White House to counsel on morality. It all came to and end when it was found out that he had for years been taking methanphanmine and seeing a male prostitute. His confession was that for decades he lived with the reality that he had a dark and diabolical other self. His shine was a beautiful family, the gift of verbal persuasion and a ministry that was successful. What the world did not know, but he and God did, was that beneath the shine was grime and in the end the shine came off because you can’t shine over dirt.
Character, they say, is what you are when no one else is around. Persona doesn’t tell the whole story, sometimes not the real story. I find this thought troubling as I think of the dirt that creeps into my own life. Like the thin film of soot that hovers over the city of Delhi and rests on my computer, desk and floor, so, too, does the dirt of this world settle over my soul each day. The daily battle to keep the dust from my life is wearing and, like Paul I say, “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”
Though I cannot escape the grunge of self, I don’t have to live with it. I do have a choice, I can either try to keep the chambers of the heart clean or I can let the muck build. If I choose the latter it will one day come back to bite me for nothing stays hidden from God and I can’t shine over dirt.
