Grill Confessions
I have a grill confession to make: I recently cleaned my grill. Ok, this isn’t all that bad, but it gets worse. This might totally gross you out, but the real confession is I haven’t cleaned the lower portion of the grill since I got it almost seven years ago.
I am a top grate cook, which equates to a slow cook of the meat (essential for great taste throughout the meat and not just surface flavoring), and the top grate gets cleaned with very use… but the very bowels of the grill still had grease and grime from the first steak slapped over the first flame. This old crude and gunk was only making the grill difficult to use, creating hot spots, flares, and a potential hazard… a potential hazard in the grill could cause a flash fire and ruin whatever was on the grill. So, the time had finally come to pull the lower grate off the grill and clean it all out.
What I did not realize is the very grease and grime I was cleaning out was actually holding the top of the burner in place. That black gunk is like glue… and I mean, really sticky glue. As I scrapped out chunks of old toxic waste looking black goop, I also removed pieces of the drip guard and the entire top of the burner. What was really cool was turning on the grill was like turning on a flame shooter… neat for party tricks but not so good for any serious grill cooking.
After replacing the burner, drip guard, lower grate, and ceramic briskets, I almost have a brand new grill. The hot spots were gone and the cooking surface had even heat throughout the grill. It was made new by replacing the heart of the grill.
Jesus is doing the same thing in each of us. His desire is to clean out the old crude and gunk in our hearts, the very stuff making it hard for Him to use us for His purpose. This is the stuff creating hot spots and flares, or in other words, the anger and frustration in our relationships. These potential hazards are the hurts and pain we have hidden away, the ugliness of life we want to forget, yet forgetting does not actually remove the hazard… we have to deal with it in order to be free from it. If we are not free from these potential hazards, they may cause a flash fire of anger at any time and ruin our relationships.
The good news is we don’t have to do it on our own. Psalm 51:10-12 tells us how God will help us with this task.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Scripture tells us how God wants to renew us, restore us, and clean out what does not belong. Our natural tendency is to leave it all alone. Unfortunately, leaving it all alone only allows things to fester and does not deal with the hurt or pain laying dormant in our hearts. Old wounds create hot spots, flares, or worse… a raging inferno of fury when we least expect it.
Once again, it is God who renews us, restores us, and cleans out what does not belong, but the key here is we need to let Him. Even if the grill had a will, there was nothing the grill could have done to clean itself out – no, it was me cleaning out the grill and replacing the components. In this same way, God cleanses us, as we find in Hebrews 10:22-23.
“…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Unlike the grill, we do have a will and we can get in the way. We can hold on to pain and hurt, we can try to ignore the past memories of condemnation or ridicule, and we can cover up our emotional scars, but doing so is a potential hazard.
Pray with me on this issue. “Dear Lord Jesus, I have lived with hurt and pain for so long I am almost used to it because it feels normal. But I am tired of covering up this burden. I am tired of pretending to be ok. I no longer want the crude and gunk and toxic goo in my life any more. I want to be free. I want to forgive those who hurt me and be renewed. Help me. I need Your strength to remember, Your strength to forgive, and Your strength to forget. Help me, Lord, to get out of Your way and to allow You to heal me. I ask for Your strength in these matters and I ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.”
The grill took me about an hour to restore. Our hearts and emotions are much more complicated and our grime goes much deeper. Just as I was intentional about cleaning out the grill, you must remain intentional about allowing the Lord to clean out your heart. When something comes to mind – a past hurt, emotional issue, relational problem, or whatever, whether you were at fault or not, confess your part of the problem and forgive the other person or people. As the layers of grime are removed and cleaned away, new layers will appear, and some just as fresh and raw as when the pain occurred. Remember the prayer above. In these times, remember the prayer above and allow the Lord to work in the renewing of your heart.
From experience, I can assure you it will not be easy. You are going against your natural tendencies. Are you tough enough?
Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
Sign Up For Email Delivery For This Blog
