Articles
New Carpet Syndrome
New Carpet Syndrome
Have you ever purchased expensive new carpet? Suddenly, you become conscientious about taking off your shoes outside the door, and you demand that everyone else observe the same rules. You become fanatical about keeping food and drinks over the tile floor in the kitchen, so that no crumbs or spills show up on the new carpet.
But later, it seems, as the carpet gets some age, you don’t make such a fuss. A few spots aren’t such a big deal. A spill isn’t a scandal. A gradually darkening track where the kids walk from the back door to the stairs doesn’t cause such disappointment anymore.
Maybe this says something about our approach to holiness. When we are first joined to the Lord, we want to keep our robes white! But when we get a few miles down the road, a little smudging is OK.
Let’s work to avoid this attitude. Salvation is a precious gift, and holiness never gets old. “God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:7). “Pursue ... the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
--John Guzzetta
