By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Sometimes we learn valuable lessons in the kitchen - even if you are, like me, not an excellent cook. Some time ago I bought a marinated, deboned chicken. It seemed juicy in the package and according to the instructions on the back (very important to me), it sounded as if it would be a delicious meal to prepare for your loved ones in just a few minutes.

In the kitchen I followed the instructions carefully. Everything went according to plan - until I got back into the kitchen ten minutes after I had placed the chicken in the oven. I immediately realized that something is burning. I jerked open the oven door and had to dodge the smoke bubbling out of it. Did I follow the instructions wrongly? Was the chicken burning? Or was the oven about to explode?

After I had turned off everything and opened the doors and windows for the smoke to escape, I carefully walked back to the oven. Here I discovered the cause of the smoke: Two days prior to this, we roasted a rib in the oven. The marinade dropped unto the bowl in the oven. I cleaned it, but failed to clean underneath and around the bowl. I did not feel like the extra effort. The heat of the oven caused the spots of marinade to burn which caused the smoke!

After I cleaned the whole oven again, I placed the chicken on the grill and this time it cooked quickly and easily without any problem.

This event reminded me of the situation in our lives in which we confess our sins to God and ask Him to forgive us. If we are too ashamed or embarrassed to discuss certain situations from our past with Him, it becomes like the spots of marinade in the oven. We initially think that we can hide it from the people around us. The problem, however, is that when the pressure in our lives increases, as the oven is heated, the smoke will come bubbling out – visible for everyone to see.

In Song of Solomon 2:15, we read that it is the little things in our lives that can sometimes cause the most damage if we fail to pay attention to it: “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” And in 1 John 1: 5-10 we read: “... God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

What do you keep in the dark in your life? Perhaps it's something that happened years ago, but it still affects you. Remember, as long as we have dark areas in our lives, the enemy can attack us by constantly reminding us of it. It not only makes us feel guilty, but it causes us to live in fear that others will discover our secret and it robs us of our joy. It is only when we confess it to God that we are truly healed and experience freedom from it.

Do not wait for the spots of marinade to start smoking. Let us take it to God, knowing that He can remove our sins as far as the east is from the west and cleanse us as white as snow. You will be surprised at how much better you feel when you stand in the light, with no darkness in your life! God bless.

Father God, thank you that I can boldly come to Your throne because Jesus died for me on the cross so that I can be cleansed from my sins. Help me in my weakness so that I can truly live in the light. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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