The Metal Straw (Revelation 2:4)

As I have grown older, my teeth have become more sensitive to extremes in temperature with food and drink. One remedy is to sip my morning hot coffee through a metal straw and mug. This alleviated one issue but inadvertently created another. I usually cleaned the straw by running hot soapy water through it. After several months, I noticed that it was increasingly difficult to draw the hot coffee through the straw. Yet, when I washed the straw, the soapy water seemingly effortlessly flowed. Then I remembered. The metal straw came with a cleaning brush, like a pipe cleaner. I fished it out of the drawer and inserted it into the straw. What came out would be apropos for a B-horror movie. At least three inches long, occupying half the length of the straw, it was a tenacious cylinder of brown-black goo. It almost quivered with life, undoubtedly nourished by the primordial elements of coffee, cream, and sugar. Only after several plunges of the brush was I able to completely clear the obstruction.

I don’t even want to dwell on the possibilities of what this was. It was repulsive and I was drinking it. Good thing I’m not a physician, I thought, this would be embarrassing if others found out about it!

This all happened because I was negligent in cleaning the metal straw. I naively assumed that if there was flow through the straw then all was well. Instead it was obscuring a serious blockage and creating a potential health problem.

What about my spiritual life?

Through my own sinful disobedience and laziness, my spiritual walk is frequently obstructed. Like the metal straw, I assume that all is well but while I project a confident and strong facade, I am polluted and decaying from within. Prayers become perfunctory, reading the Bible becomes rote memorization-all because I have set aside my first love, Jesus Christ.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Revelation 2:4 (ESV)

Prayers, reading the Bible, all spiritual activities can become mechanical exercises and empty works, hindering or even obstructing my spiritual growth, if God is not at the center.

God is most gracious and merciful, shaking me out of my frequent complacency to refocus my love, life and attention unto His Son, Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit continues to clean and sanctify my soul, removing the obstructions and filth so that His love and grace can flow unhindered into my life.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.