COMING OUT OF THE SEWER
I remember a documentary, it was about a Christian agency that worked with children who lived in sewers - somewhere in eastern Europe - the work of the agency is to re-house these kids - a chance for a new life away from the darkness and filth of the sewers into foster homes.
The documentary showed this chap going into the sewers himself to try and help the children who were living there. The camera team who went down with him had to take their camera lights it was literally pitch black. I imagine if my TV had ‘smelly vision’ it stunk as well!
Think about those kids for a minute - virtually blind through living in the darkness underground. Filthy through living in the waste from thousands of homes.
Picture yourself down there - you receive a chance to leave? You jump at the opportunity, but as you are lead out of your sewer which has been your home, as your eyes become accustomed to the light at the end of the tunnel, you start to see the state that you are in. You start to see the excrement on your clothes and in your hair. And no matter how hard you try to brush it off, the stains will not go away. And of course, the nearer you get to the light coming in from the entrance of the tunnel, the dirtier you appear.
Naturally you would shy away from ever coming out of the sewer until you’re fit to be presented to the outside world. The problem of course, is that you cannot be made clean until you come out of the filth of the sewer, and by coming out it’s inevitable that you will be made aware of your own filth.
This story is a picture of how we all are before we step out of darkness, your immediate reaction would to turn right back into the home you’ve always known. Because having you filth exposed is uncomfortable, but can I encourage you to take that step of coming out because as that sin is exposed by the one who is the light of the world, it can be eradicated by him also, he came into the sewer to save you!