My friends recently purchased their first home, a fixer-upper, which they’ve been working on and living in. Recently they noticed water damage, leading to the discovery of mold in the ceiling and walls. Mitigation involved cutting out sections of drywall and letting in light and air, carting off the defiled materials to the dump, then replacing everything with fresh drywall, plaster and paint.

Mold proved troublesome for homeowners in ancient times as well. Look at how the Lord instructed the Israelites to deal with this problem:

On the seventh day the priest is to return to inspect the house. If the mold has spread on the walls, he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.

3,500 years and we still deal with mold in the same way.

My inclination to turn away from the Lord works much like mold. It’s easier, safer and even more popular to slip away from the challenges of loving the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.

Just like mold, dark things grow in the inner places in my life. I need the Holy Spirit to regularly uncover these spots, to expose them to the light of scripture, and to tear out damaged pieces. The cuts hurt, but only for a short time.

Soul maintenance mirrors home maintenance. Paying attention to small issues, and dealing with them before emerging as major problems requires diligence and an eye toward the long-term.

Same idea with the moldy parts of my life.

Leviticus 14 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by iese kobaladze