Cordless Vacuum / Worldless People

Vacuuming in our house in a two person job. One does the vacuuming and the other prevents the youngest child from strangling herself with the cord.

Seriously, every time I vacuum, my youngest daughter is so fascinated with the cord. She starts out chasing it around, then picks it up, and soon it's wrapped around her entire body. I am so afraid she's going to strangle herself, especially in those times when you go around the corner or down the hallway, and the cord doesn't seem long enough, because it's temporarily hooked on a piece of furniture or something, and you give it a good yank to free up your slack. I'm afraid it will be around her neck so I always try to have someone around when I vacuum.

As I was contemplating a cordless vacuum today, I also noticed the similarities between my daughter's attraction to the cord and the attractions Christians have to the world. The vacuum cord by itself is not a dangerous thing for my daughter. It's not even dangerous for her to just touch it or move it around a little. The danger comes when she gets all wrapped up in it and she is not able to protect herself from the pull of the cord.

The same is true for Christians living in this world. The things of this world are not all bad in and of themselves, but it's when we get all wrapped up in them that we are not able to protect ourselves from the pull of the world. Let's take our appearance for an instance. There is nothing wrong with trying to look nice and making our outer appearance attractive. The danger, however, comes when we begin to get all wrapped up in the image of what the world finds attractive. Getting all wrapped up could mean spending money we don't have in pursuit of our look, constant focus on ourselves to the point of being oblivious to those around us, or even pursuing plastic surgery to perfect those areas we now see as flawed. The worldly pulls keeps getting stronger and stronger, and the more wrapped up you are, the harder it is to get out from under it. It can lead to unhappiness, unsatisfaction, lonliness, and even to death, an eternal death.

I believe there is a reason Jesus said we were to be in the world but not part of it. He knew the heartache we would find in living as the world and the eternal dangers we would face. Jesus knew we would need help in protecting ourselves so he sent us the Holy Spirit. Just as I always have someone else help me protect my daughter when I am vacuuming, the Holy Spirit helps protect us while we are living in this world and as Jesus is sanctifying us, preparing us for heaven.

If I want to, I can purchase a cordless vacuum, but Jesus didn't purchase a worldless people. He purchased a people who are living as the world, and then He offers to teach them how to be worldless and protects them in the process.

I wonder. . . if Jesus can teach me how to be worldless, then, maybe, I can teach my vacuum how to be cordless. I know it's a stretch.