Off with His Head

In the 2010 remake of Alice in Wonderland, there's a scene in which the evil Red Queen discovers that her tarts have been stolen. To say that the Queen has a bit of a temper would be an understatement. She also, apparently, really loves tarts. When she realizes that they are gone, she sort of loses her marbles.

Infuriated, she bursts into the hallway and begins inspecting each of her servants, intent on finding the perpetrator. When, finally, the guilty servant is found, exposed by a hint of raspberry jam at the corner of his mouth, she bellows, "Off with his head!"

Every time I watch that scene, I just want to pull the Queen aside and say, "Look, I know he stole your tarts and all, but I think you might be overreacting just a little."

It's comical, of course, but the truth is that I often overreact myself. And when I do, it is anything but comical.

The man that just cut me off in traffic without using his turn signal? Off with his head!

The woman that won't stop talking excessively loudly on her phone in an otherwise quiet waiting room? Off with her head!

The guy at the gym that sits on the machines in between sets so that no one else can use them? Off with his head!

I could go on. You probably could too.

Thanks to a good bit of socializing, my irritation and impatience rarely surface. Yet there they are- right on the edge of my heart.

Therein lies the problem- my sinful heart.

The content of my heart comes pouring out when I get bumped. It spills over and exposes who I really am. It is evident in the words that escape my lips and in the ones left unspoken. Often, I turn out to be far less impressive than I thought myself to be.

If I am the problem, though, I cannot also be the solution. A sinful heart cannot remedy a sinful heart.

Jesus conquered my sin on the cross – and He conquered yours. His sacrifice on our behalf not only saves us, but changes us.

How has he changed you?

Spiritual Hoarding

In recent years, the world of hoarding has captured the attention of millions, as evidenced by more than a couple of shows dedicated to the phenomenon. The camera pans over piles of half-eaten pizzas, empty shampoo bottles, broken electronics, and newspaper coupons from 1967.

The home of a hoarder is anything but inviting. There is no room for company. It is not conducive to relationship. The home of a hoarder is, to put it bluntly, disgusting.

In the course of a one hour episode, the chaos that is the life of a hoarder is transformed. As the mountains of trash are disassembled, a new space emerges. Space for friendship. Space for productive work and peaceful rest. Space for life to begin again.

While hoarding might make for interesting, though somewhat debasing, television, there is nothing compelling about spiritual hoarding.

It's hoarding of a different sort. It's what happens when we accumulate information, but fail to experience transformation, when we collect knowledge, but fail to apply it to our lives, when we amass heads full of facts and data, but fail to cultivate hearts full of love and grace.

It's what makes for great Bible trivia contestants, but lousy Christians.

If left unchecked, the life of a spiritual hoarder will eventually become cluttered with pride, piled with judgmentalism, and coated with a thick layer of self-righteousness.

The heart of a spiritual hoarder is anything but inviting. There is no room for company. It is not conducive to relationship. The heart of a spiritual hoarder is, to put it bluntly, disgusting.

Hoarders of any sort are usually unaware of the problem and wouldn’t know where to begin if they were. Hoarders need an intervention and help.

Consider this an intervention – of your heart and mine.

Help is available through the grace of God and the support and encouragement of godly friends, if we only will would ask for and accept it.

It will take more than an hour to disassemble the build-up of spiritual hoarding. It will take more sweat and tears than we anticipate to break through the accumulation of narcissism caked on our hearts. But, over time, a new space will emerge. 

Space for friendship.

Space for productive work and peaceful rest.

Space for life - the life God intended for us - to begin again.