Do I Throw it Away, Give it Away, or Sell it?  That’s the question I want to ask you today.

For the past few days, we have been purging a whole lot of items in our house.  Items that we no longer use, need, or want.  Items that have been taking up residence in a cabinet or a closet, that we haven’t used or even thought about for years.  Toys that our little girl no longer uses or plays with.  Clothes that don’t fit, or are out of style.  All sorts of items have made their way out of our house.

Some of it we have sold.  Some of it we have given away.  Some of it we have thrown away.  I am constantly amazed at the things that people will buy.  You’ve done it – right?  You’ve bought someone else’s trash, and the circle of recycling begins.

I am in awe of how much stuff we’ve had in our house.  I am almost ashamed of the amount of possessions we have.  We went through our closet, and got rid of half of our clothes, and it still looks full.  Today, I cleaned out all my drawers from my dresser – had 2 garbage bags full of clothes to donate, and when I put items back in the drawers they were still full.

And then there’s the action of going through things and asking the question “Do I really want to get rid of that?  I may need it again one day…”  The stuff we need to get rid of our lives is a lot like what we’ve done the past few days – we throw it away, we give it away, or we sell it.

Throwing Away:

We carry a lot of junk around in our lives.  The sin we have in our lives, well, we know that we need to throw it away.  That’s what the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:1.  It says “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”

Throw it away – throw away the sin that so easily entangles.  Throw it out.  Get rid of it.

Giving it Away:

Psalm 55:22 tells us to give our burdens to God.  It states: “Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.” (NLT)

Now, there are some things that God places on us to bear.  Just like Paul had to bear the thorn in his flesh, we have things God has placed on us, for a variety of reasons.  But there are some things which Satan has placed on us, or perhaps even worse – we have placed upon ourselves.  If you can’t bear it – give it to God.

Sell It:

Its always fun to sell things and make a little extra “pocket money.”

In essence, we sold our sins to Jesus.  And just like when we sell our junk to others and get a sense of satisfaction knowing its off our hands and someone else is going to take it away for us, our sins are just like that.

Our sins were bought with a hefty price.  Do you remember the old gospel hymn:

Gone is all my debt of sin,
A great change is wrought within,
And to live I now begin,
Risen from the fall;
Yet the debt I did not pay—
Someone died for me one day,
Sweeping all the debt away—
Jesus paid it all.

Jesus died and paid it all, yes,
On the cross of Calvary,
And my stony heart was melted
At His dying, dying call;
Oh, His heart in shame was broken
On the tree for you and me, yes,
And the debt, the debt is canceled,
Jesus paid it, paid it all.

Jesus did pay it all.  He came in bought everything from me.  He came in and bought things I didn’t even know I wanted to let go of.  In fact, the price he paid was more than I ever dreamed of asking.  But he didn’t mind.

So what things in your life do you need to throw away, or give away, or sell?