Afternoon Thoughts:

3 Lessons from Toppling the Outhouse

Many years ago, a little boy lived in the country, out in a rural part of West Texas... For facilities, his family had to use an outhouse, and the boy hated it because it was hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and stunk all the time... Well, one afternoon after a hard spring rain, the little creek [near the outhouse] became so swollen that the boy decided it was his perfect chance to get rid of the much-hated outhouse. [He pushed] until the outhouse toppled backward into the creek and floated away...  That evening, his dad [threatened a punishment for the boy, without explanation]. The boy decided to play innocent and asked why. His father replied, "Someone pushed the outhouse into the creek today. It was you, wasn't it, son?" The boy thought for a moment, switched strategies, and answered, "Yes. [But] Dad, I read in school last week that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and didn't get into trouble because he told the truth." His dad said, "Well, son, George Washington's father wasn't in that cherry tree!" While you may have never pushed an outhouse into a creek with your dad in it, all of us can identify with this story in at least three ways. There is something inside us that wants to do things our own way, no matter what the consequences. The Bible refers to this as the realm of "the flesh." Our lack of goodness affects other people, not just us. [And] most of us have been in a lot of outhouses that have been pushed over by sinful people. None of us get away with keeping our sinful acts secret. In fact, we often end up sinning more — lying and deceiving — to cover up the reality of our bad choices... God knows we will break his rules — rules that he established to help us live well and treat each other with kindness and respect. It breaks his heart when this happens, but it doesn't prevent him from giving us the most remarkable gift he can give:forgiveness . But he can only do this if we acknowledge what we've done and refuse to rationalize our way out of it. One of the great promises in the Bible is this: "If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins." God is more interested in how we respond to breaking the rules than in simply punishing us for disobeying. He wants to know what is in our hearts — are we humble and teachable and willing to learn from our mistakes, or are we proud and defensive and oblivious to our need for God's mercy and love? -The Heart of the Story: God's Masterful Design to Restore His People by Randy Frazee