By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, such liberty from the law of sin and death, as the children of this world will not believe, though a man declare it unto them.”

– John Wesley.

Couches, TV’s, bookshelves, recliners, and tables, each of them are destined to end their life parked on the curb. There they sit, patiently waiting to be carted off by a delighted new owner or the garbage man.

Weathering rain, wind, and snow, the well-used furniture is a monument of a new season to all who see. Maybe they bought new furniture. Maybe the dusty chair simply sat unused for far too long. Maybe the table was broken beyond repair. Whatever the case, the new has come and the old has been dragged to the curb.

I imagine that there is a bit of relief when one drags their bothersome, old furniture to the side of the road. It’s finally out of the house and out of the way. But I also imagine that they hope and pray to come home from work to find the old furniture had disappeared from the curb, no longer an eyesore to the neighbors.  Even though they are able to pull the furniture out to the road, there is never true relief until it is finally gone.

Facebook and Craiglist are filled with ad after ad of desperate people pleading someone to come and take their broken-down recliners or busted treadmills. You can practically hear the eagerness in the posts: FREE Dining Room Table. Minor scratches and two shaky legs. Other than that, GREAT condition. No cost to you. Just come pick it up and I’ll help you load it!

There’s a lot of people who have junk, but not a whole lot of people willing to take that junk for them.

I remember when I was moving out of my apartment in Nashville, I had a big couch that I needed to get rid of. I wasn’t going to cart it all the way to Indiana, plus, Annie had a nicer couch we were going to use. So, I posted it on Craiglist for free.

I honestly didn’t think anyone would want it. It was stained, the feet were broken off. and the cushion was torn in the corner. There’s no way that anyone would take this junk of my hands.

But the ad wasn’t up for more than fifteen minutes and I received a message. A guy said he could be there in twenty minutes. Sure enough, the guy showed up with a buddy and before I knew it, the couch was loaded up and in the back of the truck.

I asked the man why in the world he wanted a stained, broken, well-used couch. He told me that he and his buddy were headed to the Daytona 500 and needed some couches to set up in the field to watch the race. They were going to take them to the dump after.

It’s always a good feeling when someone removes the junk that we thought we’d never get rid of. A weight falls from your shoulders, a burden is lifted from your heart.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve gathered a lot of spiritual junk over the course of my life. Our sin, our addictions, our past, our regrets, our doubts, all of them can gather on the curbs of our hearts. A whole lot of junk.

But thankfully, we serve a God who is willing and able to load up our junk and carry it far, far away.