Saturday, November 23, 2013

How to do laundry—a tip for handling hangers and how dirty laundry is related to faith.

Do you fight the Hanger Monster?

Hangers in my closet accumulate like dirty laundry. When my hanger stash goes empty in the laundry room, I need to replenish the supply. I try to keep them all in a row during the transfer to the bar where I hang the freshly laundered clothes. Clumsiness takes over—my hand is not long enough, nor my arm skinny enough, to gracefully handle them all in one trip. I often end up with a minor catastrophe requiring reorganization which consumes several minutes of precious time. A light came on today when I discovered a method of accomplishing the task without messing the hangers up into a big cluster to untangle. I used a hanger to transport empty hangers from the closet to the laundry room! Why have I not thought of this before? This is great! Now I can use my other hand to grab a handful of peanut M&Ms—because they melt in your mouth, not in your hands.

hangers
Use a hanger to transport empty hangers from the closet to the laundry room


Cleaning out a closet and getting rid of dirty laundry is refreshing. 

Our Heavenly Father loves us like an earthly father loves his child. His truth is written on our heart, but our human nature rejects it—this is sin. We should fight sin like a pile of dirty laundry because by grace, His Son Jesus suffered and died for us, even though Christ was innocent and we certainly did not deserve it. Just like laundry is “a job”, we don’t like to be reminded of sin and would rather do things “our way”. A laundry list of sins is found in the first chapter of the book of Romans where we learn that the righteous live by faith and also about God’s wrath on unrighteousness. We cannot confess and turn away from sin on our own, but we receive the Holy Spirit’s power—the gift of faith—in baptism and by hearing God’s Word. The laundry room of our hearts is replenished with “new hangers” of encouragement through church, Bible study and devotions. Our confessed sins are forgiven—washed away like dirt from laundry—and we try to do better.

Believers are not ashamed of the gospel—it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

    What We Believe
    • God is the triune God of the Bible—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.
    • The Bible is the Word of God. It not only contains the Word of God, but actually is God’s Word and is the only source of revealed truth concerning Christ, faith, and salvation, by which the church is governed.
    • Faith in Jesus Christ is the gift of God to man through which man is declared righteous before God who forgives all man’s sins.
    • Man, though created holy and innocent, by his own choice fell into sin, thus separating himself from God.
    • Sin is every offense of God’s law and leads man to death and eternal damnation unless he is redeemed.
    • Redemption is the act of God revealed in the Bible and proclaimed by the Church whereby Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, died for the sins of the world and rose again from the dead to secure our redemption.
      —Faith Lutheran Church, Abilene, Kansas

    Out of thanksgiving for this amazing Gift we

    • Trust in Him completely.
    • Pray.
    • Worship.
    • Sing and praise Him.
    • Receive the Spirit’s wisdom and direction in our lives, always pushing to learn more.
    • Do good works.
    • Share this Good News with others.
    These things are pleasing to Our Father in Heaven.

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