Who cleans out your filter?

It was 7pm, and I just wanted to get the job done.  The carpets needed shampooed and tonight was the night to git ‘er done.  I was shoeing the kids upstairs to their bath when Dutch asked if he could clean out the filter in the vacuum. (I have no idea why he has such a fascination with cleaning out the vacuum filter, but he does and I certainly will not squelch any natural inclination he has toward cleanliness since he has none to spare.)  I began to say no because it always makes a bit of a mess when he does it–little trails of vacuum dust and lint as he takes it to the garbage can.

I just wanted to get the job done–not deal with the mess inside.

But the little mommy-mantra–“say yes whenever you can”–went through my mind, so of course, I said yes.

Good thing! The filter was so over-clogged it’s a wonder that I’d been able to vacuum at all. It was so filthy we went ahead and cleaned out all three filters, dumping, washing, scrubbing–good as new. We fired up the vacuum and it worked wonders.

I was so thankful that Dutch had alerted me to all the garbage on the inside.

In  more ways than one.

Yes, more often than not it is Dutch who–directly or indirectly–brings out the “stuff” inside my heart. Most of the time I see it as an inconvenient mess, something which I then have to deal with, trails of dust when I really just want to get the job done. Or worse, I blame him for exposing all the garbage in there.

As if he caused it.

What a common mistake we make, don’t we? We think the people in our lives who rub us the wrong way actually cause the frustration and anger, impatience or annoyance.

No, they don’t cause it, they just reveal it.

“For from within, out of a person’s heart, comes evil…” Mark 7:21

Our “challenging” people don’t put those things in our hearts any more than Dutch put the gunk inside the filter of the vacuum. The gunk is there, he just helpfully pointed it out.

Just like our “difficult” people point out the gunk we have inside. How helpful. 🙂 They pull out the filter whether we want them to or not, and there it is–gunk. Filthiness.  It looked fine before! We were happy and put together and everything was great. Why’d they have to go and ruin it all by pulling out that filter and showing how gross it is!

The truth is that they didn’t pull out the filter.

God did.

God is in the business of pulling out filthy filters. He loves us so much He refuses to let us get all clogged up, filthy, inefficient, burning up our motors in frustration because there’s too much garbage to keep things running smoothly. He’ll go to great lengths to expose those filthy filters, to reveal what needs to be cleaned.

But somebody has to point it out. To ask, “Can I clean out the filter, Mommy?” Somebody’s flesh-and-blood hand must pull that thing out.

So He uses people. We might call them enemies or difficult people or “high-maintenance” kids. Whoever they are, God will use them to clean out our lives. To make us useful. Effective. Clean.

To make us fit for His kingdom.

A little process called sanctification.

God never reveals our filthy filters just to make us feel bad. He only reveals that which He intends to clean. If God shows us something ugly, we can celebrate because He’s about to make it beautiful. I may not like the process, pulling all those filters out, making the process longer, leaving that dusty trail–seeing all the ugliness that’s deep inside my heart. But it feels so good on the other side. When the vacuum runs like new.

When our hearts are clean.

After Dutch cleaned out the filter, you know what I did?

Of course, I thanked him. I intend to do much more of that as he continues to clean out my life…

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Your turn: I wonder who might be exposing a filthy filter in your life today? A difficult person or child who exposes areas God may desire to cleanse? Let’s agree with God and let Him clean us out, and gain a new appreciation for those who pull out that filter in our lives. How very helpful they are, agreed?