Glitter.

When I cleaned the church, I used to grumble about the Sunday School teachers who used it.  It was next to impossible to get the stuff out of seat cushions and carpets. Glitter leaves a maddening tell-tale trail.

My mother-in-law once gave her youngest grandchildren a whole bottle of glitter for their crafty creations.  Lightly sprinkling glitter over the glue on their papers evolved into spilling it into mounds.  Then they were walking through it…  Of course, they were having a blast, but I was in a panic envisioning glitter being tracked throughout my in-laws’ home.

For some reason, glitter has become the latest fad.  Someone somewhere decided to put it on every possible Christmas item you can think of. You can’t avoid it.  This year, I bought some new decor for the church.  Every single  item had glitter on it. Oh, the irony.

Unload glittery items from your cart in the check-out line and you can’t help but notice the mess it leaves.  There will be glitter on your clothes, your coat, in your purse, all over the counter…  I’ve tried to swish it away  in an attempt to clean up a bit for the next customer.  Why is it when you are handling glitter, your nose itches?  I’ve come home from the store and my girls have looked at me funny, saying, “Mom, you have glitter all over your face.”   Hard to hide the fact that I’d been dabbling in glitter.

Last year, I stood in the Christmas card aisle remembering that year I’d bought glittery cards.  I’d said, “Never again!” So I firmly repeated to myself, “No cards with glitter, no cards with glitter!” But all the pretty cards had glitter.  They were the most beautiful cards…shiny, sparkling, so pleasant to the eyes…  I put them in my cart.

Glitter.

I love it.  I hate it.

 

Humor me with a spiritual lesson by way of analogy:  No.  Glitter is not evil, but when I am trying to describe the word, “Sin”, I think sparkly, shiny “Glitter.”  Love it.  Hate it. Like Eve, we are drawn in by our lusts. Again and again we return to that shiny, sparkly obsession wondering, “Why?” when we know exactly what the fallout will be.  We tell ourselves all sorts of things to try to feel better about it–to feel justified with our decision.  After we are drawn in, the effects stay with us.  Try as we might, there is a tell-tale trail not so easily swept away.  What a mess we get ourselves into!

 

Thankfully, we do have a choice.  The magnificent news is that we do not have to be slaves to unholy, sinful desires!  Why?  Because Christ within us enables us with power over the sins that beset us…those shiny, sparkly obsessions.

 

“Jesus answered… ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.  If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.'” -John 8:34-36

“For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin… count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness.” -Romans 6:6, 11-13 -NIV

Please, enjoy your sparkly Christmas decorations.   And while you’re getting out all the glitter, remember what it takes to get the glitter out.