Does anyone remember what happened on February 2nd, 1968? That is the day that this question began to be answered: How would New York City look if no one picked up the trash for nine days? Residents found the answer to that grisly question during a dramatic 1968 strike by the City’s sanitation workers.Trash accumulates quickly. On February 5, The New York Times lamented that the city looked like “a vast slum as mounds of refuse grow higher and strong winds whirl the filth through the streets.” By that point there were about 30,000 tons of trash on the streets, a number that would grow to 100,000 tons. Vincent Cannato wrote of the Lower East Side, “Garbage was piled chest-high. Egg shells, coffee grounds, milk cartons, orange rinds, and empty beer cans littered the sidewalk.” (taken from https://untappedcities.com/2015/02/11/today-in-nyc-history-the-great-garbage-strike-of-1968/) The strike ended on February 10th.
Trash can be deadly. The bubonic plague was spread through fleas and rats, which thrive on trash heaps. In like manner, our body must eliminate contaminating waste on a regular basis or death results. I was vividly reminded of this during my recent surgery when the nurses made sure that after my surgery, my bladder could be emptied BEFORE I was released from the hospital.
In another sphere, the sphere of our souls, it is also mandatory that the filth be removed. We learn about the filth of our souls throughout the Bible. Isaiah 64:6 exposes the filth of our self-righteous pride: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” We could go on to review the many lists of sins in the Scriptures, but let’s cut to the chase: all sin leads to death. Note the statements of Ezekiel 18:20a and Romans 6:23a respectively: “The soul who sins will die. – and –” The wages of sin is death. This is an inescapable truth.
The Good News is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I Tim. 1:15), and “the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin ” (I John 1:7). Christ’s sacrifice on the cross on our behalf brings salvation from the penalty, the power, and finally, the presence of sin. So let’s not deny sin, but get rid of it in the way Christ has provided – the ONLY way for cleansing! Hallelujah!
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (I John 1:8-10)