Do you remember when you first learned how to clean up a mess? Whether it was your own mess or someone else’s, it stared you in the face, and you had to clean it up. So, what tools did you use to clean up the mess? From spills in the kitchen to oil overflows in the garage. Perhaps a pet issue or simply spilled milk. Whatever the mess to clean up – you need a sponge.
Need A Sponge
So, when do you need a sponge? We already mentioned kitchen spills – like milk and coffee, cooking on the stove, casserole overflows in the oven. Consequently, there are many times in the kitchen you need a sponge.
But move to your laundry room. When you pour detergent, bleach, or ammonia and miss your aim for a measuring container, you need a sponge. In the same manner, pouring water into that little opening on your iron for steam doesn’t always go well, either. So you need a sponge.
The garage is another sponge-eater. From garden chemicals to oils to lubricants – that stuff often migrates where it’s not supposed to. So you need a sponge to clean that up, too.
Outside when you wash your car, there are special sponges and products for the fine finish, the wheel-wells, and interior of your vehicle.
I’m sure you can think of many more times you need a sponge.
What Does A Sponge Do?
As a review of examples we just explored, here’s a list of some things sponges do:
- Soak up.
- Pull away.
- Gently scrub – not like a hard-bristle brush.
- Hold lots of suds for stubborn stains.
- Absorb a lot!
- Correct a mess from a poor aim.
- Make your home clean and inviting.
- Leave your work station lemony fresh.
- Get rid of unhealthy toxins.
- Bring a luster shine back where something turned dull.
- Cool a fevered brow of a loved one.
- Park under a drippy faucet to absorb until you have time to fix it.
There are so many scenarios when you need a sponge.
Incidentally, sponges are reasonably priced. You can get –
- A package of brightly colored small rectangles for your kitchen.
- Super thick sponges for washing cars.
- “Cracker dry” sponges to absorb spills.
- Synthetic sponges made of a poly-kind-of substance.
- Sometimes you can even find a “natural” sponge from the ocean.
Synthetic VS Natural
There’s good basic information on many websites or in dictionaries about sponges. And some facts are common knowledge.
Synthetic sponges don’t have natural enzymes that protect from bacteria, mold, and mildew that many sea sponges have.
Intriguingly, “natural” sponges harvested in the sea are classified as multicellular organisms full of pores and channels. They are more expensive as they are challenging to hand-harvest and difficult to find in ocean coasts.
While synthetic sponges are cut into common geometrical shapes, trimmed ocean sponges often retain their ocean shape. Additionally, they are durable and soft compared to many synthetic sponges.
So – why all this content about sponges?
Why are they important?
Some People Are Sponges
Yes, a person can be a kind of sponge – which can be good or not-so-good.
People soak up all kinds of information as they live, learn, and grow. Coincidentally, this takes place all through life. The more you soak up, the more valuable you are as a human sponge.
Some folks are really good at absorbing hurt others suffer from. Counselors, good teachers, loving parents, and other community or ministry-trained persons are human sponges. Sometimes a friend or neighbor is a sponge to soak up “life-spill-overs.” Their kind, gentle, absorption pulls away your hurt and helps you get back on your feet.
Incidentally, society also needs human sponges with exceptional ability to hold information, guidelines, laws, and protocols to assist your function in a complicated world. Various professionals help with taxes, legal situations, medical interventions, consultation in business, how to make your money work for you, and so on.
Another kind of human sponge is the gifted person who knows how to “pull-away” negative, unhelpful, and even destructive forces that unhinge situations. These negotiators seems to know how to tug-and-pull. They engage problem-solving skills that develop appropriate initiatives to serve, soothe, direct, or compromise so people and organizations can find common ground and build something better together.
But there’s one more sponge that makes life good. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Divine Sponge
Of all varieties of sponges we’ve discussed, there’s only one sponge that does everything you need a sponge to do. In fact, I’d say – you really can’t live a purposeful life without this incredible sponge. It’s actually a person.
Did you know God carries out all the functions we’ve mentioned. It’s no surprise each person needs this Sponge every day, even if they don’t yet know it.
So many things happen in one day. Life overflows into spills or missed-aims. Then there’s unexpected news and resulting sorrow.
Thankfully, God – a Divine Sponge – steps in to absorb and pull-away hurt others have poured into your soul. Even your own mistakes and miscalculations are easy work for Him to produce you renewed – with the aroma of Christ.
God has many qualities a “natural sponge” has.
- He protects your soul from sin all over in this world (like a sponge has natural properties against bacteria.)
- He is full of options and channels through which He does amazing things (like large channels in an ocean sponge).
- Plus, He always retains His essence and qualities (like sponges retain their shape).
- Additionally, He is strong, durable, and gentle (just like an ocean sponge).
- God soaks up brokenness and serves your needs (like the work of a sponge from the sea).
How You Can Be A Sponge
Let’s explore the list about daily sponge use. We can learn how to be an effective sponge as a person.
Soak up
Have you learned how to soak up messes you discover in life? Yours or someone else’s?
Pull away
Did you know you have capacity to pull away negative and destructive forces in your life and others’ lives?
Gently scrub – not like a hard-bristle brush
God made you with a gentle quality. Do you practice gentleness? (Phil. 4:5)
Hold lots of suds for stubborn stains
Are you tapping into your capacity to hold lots of God’s love, grace, and power to keep rubbing out sin-stains?
Absorb a lot!
Perhaps you’ve learned what I had to learn. You can handle more than you think. That means you can also absorb more than you want to. And thankfully, you have a Divine Sponge to handle and absorb what is beyond your capacity.
Correct a mess from a poor aim
In what creative ways have you helped someone aim better in practicing godly qualities? How are you correcting your own aim?
Make your home clean and inviting
Jesus (your Divine Sponge) brings daily freshness and cleanness to your soul. Do you seek Him with all your heart to receive this? He invites you. (Jer. 29:12)
Leave your work station lemony fresh
How do you bring a pleasant disposition to your family, workplace, or other community organizations? In what ways will you bring cheer to friends and other relationships?
Get rid of unhealthy toxins (throw away the sponge and not re-use)
Some things you are not meant to absorb. So, ask God for wisdom to avoid those messes. If you have a toxic mess, turn to your Divine Sponge to absorb and cleanse. Jesus can absorb anything – even toxins.
Bring a luster shine back where something has turned dull
Are you creatively using your skillset to bring a shine back into circumstances or relationships that have become dull? How are you adding meaning to others’ lives?
Cool a fevered brow of a loved one
Are you applying your sponge capacity to care for others in their time of sickness or need?
Park under a drippy faucet until you have time to fix it
There are situations you need to absorb and hold things in place until they can be fixed. This is the kind of work Jesus does. Absorb in ways that help your family, local community, or global community be in a better place until things can be fixed.
Application Thoughts And Questions
- With so much opportunity and need, what practical things can you do to be a human sponge?
- And with so much spill and messes in life, why not turn to your Divine Sponge to be made fresh and new again?
- Have you discovered the renewing work God wants to do in your life as He does the work of a sponge?
- Remember the work of the cross. Ponder how Jesus is a Divine Sponge that changed the course of eternity for anyone who believes on Him. Do you believe Him for all the spills in your life?
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