This Wednesday, heavy duty cranes and bulldozers were deployed in the middle of the River Thames in London, England. Their mission was to address a problem that had emerged in the last decade – over 180 tonnes of wet wipes, infused with sediment from the river and gelled together into a colossal floating island had dominated a segment of the Thames, altering its course and presenting an unprecedented environmental hazard. It’s been named “Wet Wipe Island” (Google it! You’ll be quite amazed.)
We may not realize that the wet wipes we used profusely during COVID-19 and beyond are a practically decay-resistant mix of plastic and fibre. If they’re flushed down the toilet, thrown onto the streets, or mistakenly discarded in public places, they often end up in the sewer system, and in the case of Wet Wipe Island, in the middle of the Thames. Here, it leeches plastics into the food chain and absorbs normal sedimentation so that the flow of the Thames has been significantly affected. It even serves as a nursery to 5 pods of sharks that don’t normally find such secure hiding places.
I think of how something meant to disinfect and clean can end up destroying and polluting. The mediating factor is abuse and neglect. It is the same principle that governs the gift of spiritual freedom. Paul says, “Christ set us free, but don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for sinful things” (Galatians 5:13). In the same way, spiritual leadership can be misused for a controlling or abusive personality; talents of speaking or singing can be used for a look-at-me egotism. Even knowledge of God’s Word can be used as judgmentalism, legalism or rigid rule-following.
In the end, like the Thames, such abuse and neglect changes the course of our spiritual lives and causes an eyesore before God. Let’s keep our spiritual lives pollution-free. Let’s guard our freedom from the things of the flesh. Otherwise, we need to start watching out for those sharks.
Just Church
At Just Church, let’s make “church” about being the type of church Jesus intends. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
