From the Pastor's Desk (Feb. 2026)
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. ~Romans 8:9-11
As I am writing this, I am preparing to get into my car for the first time in three days since the latest snow fell. There are always mixed feelings about a good snowstorm. Being from the Laurel Highlands of Western PA, I rarely mind a good snow, though the process of clean up can always be a pain. It was, at least, an opportunity for me to give my snowblower some good use after a few years of just sitting in the shed.
This chore brought about some interesting insight, however. Since my snowblower is rather small, and forecasters were originally calling for more snow than we got, I decided to do a quick clearing of the main areas mid-day Sunday, halfway through the storm, to get the initial dump out of the way. I did not do everything – I didn’t move our cars or do the entire alley coming into our place, just the main driveway and sidewalks. On Monday, I went out to do everything, including the deeper areas I didn’t touch on Sunday.
Can you guess which part was easier to clean Monday – the part I had snowblowed the day before or the part I didn’t do at all? If your answer was, the part that I had already done, as I might expect your answer to be (as I would answer, as well), I would have to tell you that you are absolutely…incorrect.
While it would certainly make sense that it should be easier to clear out the part I had already started, and it would be correct in most circumstances, what I didn’t anticipate was the precipitation turning to straight sleet almost immediately after my first clearing. So the part that I had cleared the day before was inches of pure ice right on top of asphalt/cement, while the part I hadn’t touched still had some of the softer snow mixed in, with the ice on top, which was much easier for the snowblower to chew through.
I’ve told you before that your pastor has an interesting brain, and as I relaxed Monday night and was thinking about that snowblowing adventure, it sunk in how our hearts are very similar to this phenomenon. The Bible speaks often about “hard hearts,” and that usually refers to those who are stubborn and refuse to follow God. But we also know that we all have those stubborn, hard-hearted moments; we all reject God’s standards and disobey him. These sinful moments are the reason Jesus had to come to Earth to begin with, and an earlier chapter of Romans reminds us that no one is the exception to this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (3:23).
Unfortunately, allowing Christ into our hearts does not mean we never make mistakes again, nor does it make sin any more excusable (as many people think). If anything, the standards are higher because a follower of Christ should be striving to live like Him. But having the Spirit of Christ in our hearts makes it easier to remove the hardened chunks of sin from our lives. This happens in a couple of ways.
First, we have the influence and model of Christ to know how to live, and as a pure follower, we want to live like Him, and are therefore convicted and feel guilty and sad when we sin, and we want that removed from us. We find ourselves wanting to be as far from sin as possible.
The good news is in the second way sin is much more easily removed – as Paul says in Romans 8, we are no longer automatically under the power of death because of the forgiving power of Christ. If we confess and repent, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
So sin, like ice, is so much easier dealt with and removed when the soft and loving influence of Christ is our primary guide. It doesn’t excuse sin, but we are enticed to get rid of it when it does creep in, and Jesus is ready and willing to do that! Valentine’s Day is not everyone’s favorite holiday for understandable reasons, but Jesus is a true Valentine we can always celebrate and appreciate because of this! Blessings! ~Pastor Eric
This chore brought about some interesting insight, however. Since my snowblower is rather small, and forecasters were originally calling for more snow than we got, I decided to do a quick clearing of the main areas mid-day Sunday, halfway through the storm, to get the initial dump out of the way. I did not do everything – I didn’t move our cars or do the entire alley coming into our place, just the main driveway and sidewalks. On Monday, I went out to do everything, including the deeper areas I didn’t touch on Sunday.
Can you guess which part was easier to clean Monday – the part I had snowblowed the day before or the part I didn’t do at all? If your answer was, the part that I had already done, as I might expect your answer to be (as I would answer, as well), I would have to tell you that you are absolutely…incorrect.
While it would certainly make sense that it should be easier to clear out the part I had already started, and it would be correct in most circumstances, what I didn’t anticipate was the precipitation turning to straight sleet almost immediately after my first clearing. So the part that I had cleared the day before was inches of pure ice right on top of asphalt/cement, while the part I hadn’t touched still had some of the softer snow mixed in, with the ice on top, which was much easier for the snowblower to chew through.
I’ve told you before that your pastor has an interesting brain, and as I relaxed Monday night and was thinking about that snowblowing adventure, it sunk in how our hearts are very similar to this phenomenon. The Bible speaks often about “hard hearts,” and that usually refers to those who are stubborn and refuse to follow God. But we also know that we all have those stubborn, hard-hearted moments; we all reject God’s standards and disobey him. These sinful moments are the reason Jesus had to come to Earth to begin with, and an earlier chapter of Romans reminds us that no one is the exception to this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (3:23).
Unfortunately, allowing Christ into our hearts does not mean we never make mistakes again, nor does it make sin any more excusable (as many people think). If anything, the standards are higher because a follower of Christ should be striving to live like Him. But having the Spirit of Christ in our hearts makes it easier to remove the hardened chunks of sin from our lives. This happens in a couple of ways.
First, we have the influence and model of Christ to know how to live, and as a pure follower, we want to live like Him, and are therefore convicted and feel guilty and sad when we sin, and we want that removed from us. We find ourselves wanting to be as far from sin as possible.
The good news is in the second way sin is much more easily removed – as Paul says in Romans 8, we are no longer automatically under the power of death because of the forgiving power of Christ. If we confess and repent, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
So sin, like ice, is so much easier dealt with and removed when the soft and loving influence of Christ is our primary guide. It doesn’t excuse sin, but we are enticed to get rid of it when it does creep in, and Jesus is ready and willing to do that! Valentine’s Day is not everyone’s favorite holiday for understandable reasons, but Jesus is a true Valentine we can always celebrate and appreciate because of this! Blessings! ~Pastor Eric
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