She dressed in rags, lived in a  desolate house amid mounds of rubbish, and spent her time rummaging through bins. The local newspaper picked up her story after the woman, who was known in her community as “Rubbish Mary”, had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Astonishingly in her house police found stock certificates and bankbooks indicating she was worth over a million pounds.

This woman’s condition was heartbreaking. But from God’s point of view there are even more tragic examples of ‘wealthy’ people who live on ‘rubbish’. If Christians are controlled by lust, hate, envy, pride, im­patience or bitterness, they’re actually choosing to live off the refuse of the world.

This might be understandable if they had no resources to draw from. You’d expect that kind of behaviour from people without faith in Christ. But that’s not the case for believers. We have the Word of truth and the help of the Holy Spirit. We have no excuse for wallowing in the dirt of sin when the power of God is at our disposal.

Father, forgive us for eating ‘rubbish’ when You’ve prepared a banquet for us. Help us to “lay aside all filthiness” (James 1:21) and to feast on Your goodness.

Author

Mart DeHaan

Topics

Our Daily Bread