Filtering Our Soul

At the end of this past summer, my husband and I turned off the pool filter to prepare for closing the pool for the winter. The water would no longer circulate and impurities filtered out. As it often does, life got busy as fall approached. We kept forgetting to call our pool company to come close the pool.

Each day we’d glance out the window and notice small changes; one day the water was slightly green, the next a big pile of leaves had blown off a tree and sunk to the bottom, the steps began to have algae growth and each day the water was a little less clear and a lot more green until it was a dark, murky blackish green. These were small changes, but little by little, they built up.

Looking out the window the other morning I remarked, “you know it doesn’t take much for still water to return to its natural state of filth-leaves, bugs, algae. You really have to stay on top of it daily with the chemicals and filter to keep it pure.”

It suddenly struck me, isn’t that just like our spiritual life? And like the pool water, it doesn’t take much for our soul to return to it’s natural state of “filth”, that is, original sin. In Mark 7:21 it says “For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts...” and Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” We let little sins in here and there, maybe thinking, “what? it’s just a little white lie” or “no one will even miss this item I’m taking” or “she deserved that harsh tone I used, she was in the wrong.” The water of our soul becomes contaminated bit by bit, like our pool water.

I realized that my everyday life is full of times where I let my soul water turn green-when I wasn’t loving like Jesus or faithful like Abraham; where I was harsh where I should have been gentle, prideful where I should have been humble. When I let moments-days!-like that build up I begin to feel a distance from God. Like the neglected pool water, my neglected soul turns a murky, blackish green so that I can’t even see or feel the Lord.

So, as the pool water needs daily filtering and chemicals, so do our souls. Make sure you apply the Holy Spirit “chemical” and a large dose of Jesus tabs; make sure your soul is filtered daily through God’s Word and don’t forget to dive deep into the purifying mix of worship and fellowship.

God calls us to be holy, to be pure, only through daily surrender, filtering and cleaning can we be so.

Oh, and don’t worry, our pool is back to normal and will be ready to swim in again next summer-you won’t become immersed in the murk!

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."