Easy or Pleasing?

What would happen if you were to roll around in a tar pit? For one, you would have quite a hard time making your way out of it. It takes a lot of strength and willpower to walk through a thick, deep pit. Once you’ve made your way out, what happens if you don’t scrub all that tar off of yourself? Cleaning yourself off of all remnants of tar immediately upon exiting is the easiest and fastest way to get clean. If the decision is to just stand their on the edge of the tar pit doing nothing but looking back and replaying in your mind over and over again the struggle you spent within it or trying to blame another for you being in it in the first place, the tar begins to dry. Once the tar dries, it adheres to your body like a second skin. The tar sticks to the most sensitive and deep crevices of your body. When you finally do realize you want to get yourself clean, the hard work of peeling each layer of the tar off your being begins. With each layer, the pain of the tar being separated from your being hurts the deeper you get. The closer the tar is to the center of you, the more pain tearing it away may cause.

Some people would want another person to come and rescue them…for them to do all the hard work of tearing away each layer is too much for them. But, many people don’t have enough time or energy or even will to do such a job for another person, they are too busy removing the tar off of themself. Some people don’t want to help because they think that once they have invested a great deal of time in the job, that you will only jump in the pit again. It is not anyone else’s job to rescue you. There is nothing wrong with having people encourage you during this time, but if someone else does it entirely for you, what have YOU overcome? Some people begin the process of tearing off the layers, but quickly give up and just live within their new skin. There is no beauty in hiding within a different skin. It takes much more time to connect with a person who is hiding within themselves.

Some people get used to the tar pits and just stay in it as if it’s their new comfort zone. They make it their new home, their new “safe” place. They don’t even consider leaving because they know if they get out, there is so much hard work that they either just don’t want to do or they don’t think they are able to do. They stay in the pit sometimes because they think their loved ones would expect them to get clean quickly, and if they fail they would have disappointed those they love. So, in an attempt to avoid failing their family, they stay away…whether it be emotionally or physically.

One of the many uses of tar is to waterproof. It was used heavily on wooden boats prior to the use of steel and iron. If you are covered in tar and slow to clean yourself, you have essentially become water proof…water will only drip away from you and not even touch what is underneath that layer of tar. My point being, God’s word washes us clean and renews us…when we are open to it. If we have layers upon layers of tar covering our being, no water can reach us inside. It’s grieving to think that many people choose to lay in the tar pit, or are slow to remove all the tar out of fear, or just run back in the pit so they won’t get wet. Myself included, have chosen to keep a layer on so I couldn’t get wet or at least keep pieces of myself covered. The key is to work daily on removing every bit, every speck of tar covering any place that needs to be washed clean with God’s flowing water. It’s easy to be dirty…but much more pleasing to be clean!