Monday, September 21, 2009

On Haircuts

Imagine that you are a sheep.  Baaaaah.  As a little ewe lamb you wander around, munching on grass and clover until your plump little belly is satisfied.  You lie down on soft patches of moss, watching cute little bunny rabbits frolic around in the surrounding pasture.  You spend all year long growing a beautiful, plush coat of soft, fluffy wool.  All the other little ewe lambs are jealous of your fine follicles of soft goodness.

Then along comes an ugly, old shepherd dude with a rusty pair of shears and whacks it all off.  Gone is your outer garment of beauty, and you are left with nothing but naked shame.

That describes my life exactly.  OK, maybe not EXACTLY, but I had a similar experience.

I got my hair cut after going 3 months without a single trim (yes, I know most of you noticed that a long time ago…).  Now suddenly it looks like my grass does when I forget to put the lawnmower blade on level 4 instead of level 1.

Don’t get me wrong, the lady who cut it did a good job, and I really like her.  It’s just that I haven’t had short hair in a long time.  And in reality it’s not even that short.  It’s no shorter than it was the last time I got a haircut.  It’s just that it looks like a drastic change to me.  I’d gotten so used to my long hair, I’d forgotten what it was like to have short hair.

The same phenomenon tends to occur in my spiritual life.  I get into a pattern of holiness and spiritual discipline, being diligent in my walk with the Lord, and then I allow sin to start growing in my heart.  Before long, it’s grown so much that I don’t look anything like I did before it grew out.

But I don’t even realize it…because it happens so slowly.  I get so used to a lifestyle filled with sin, I forgot what holiness looks like.  On top of that, when I do realize my need to “cut” my sinfulness, I’m hesitant to do it because I’ve kind of gotten attached to the rugged, “good-looks” of my growing sin problem.

I’m pretty sure there are better ways to describe sin than by discussing the process of whacking off hair.  Nevertheless, it reminds me of my need to stay pure and the ease at which I allow sin to grow in my life.

In conclusion, I want to be spiritually bald for 2 reasons.  For one, I’d even more closely resemble the physique of Mr. Clean than I already do.  And secondly, I wouldn’t let sin grow in my life at all.

If only…

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