Decluttering the SoulSample

The Boomerang Effect

I will now share one of my secrets for success in my effort to get rid of stuff. As soon as I made a decision to get rid of an item, I made sure that it went out the door immediately. And I mean in that exact moment. I emptied out two shelves in the garage as a designated spot to place the decluttered items until I could take a trip to the nearest donation center. Once the shelves were full of bags and boxes, I would load up the back of my car and drop everything off. 

Putting things into the specified donation area kept me from rummaging back through and pulling things out or second guessing any decisions that I had already made about things that should go. Having it out of the house instead of piled up in a corner somewhere helped me to breathe easier and enjoy the positive results of my efforts right away. 

However, several months into the project, this system began to break down. While picking up the books in the nursery one day, I noticed one that I was sure I had put in the donation pile. And yet, here it was, back in the pile of books. Had I forgotten to put it in the donation area? I put it there right away. 

The next day, the book was back along with another baby toy that I had taken out earlier in the week. I put them back again, this time on the lookout for foul play. Sure enough, later that day I heard a noise coming from the garage. My three year old was digging through the bags of donation items, her arms full of treasures to drag back into the house again.

I am calling this repeated and mysterious reappearance of things that we thought we had gotten rid of the “boomerang effect.” Not only does it show up in our physical world, but much more frequently in our spiritual world too. So often we do something wrong and we faithfully take it to God, confessing our sin and asking for His forgiveness. We put it behind us and move on with our lives in the freedom that comes with remvoing a burden. 

But then, days, weeks, or months later, something sparks a memory. We replay the scene of our offense in our mind. We scold ourselves for making such a mistake and begin to sink into shame like quicksand. The burden that we thought was gone is suddenly back, heavier than ever. We replay the scene on repeat, beating ourselves up more and more each time. How is this possible?

When Jesus forgives our sins, He doesn’t simply decide to overlook it, He erases it completely. To Him, it is as far as the east is from the west. That is the last truth that Satan wants us to believe and act upon. Instead, the enemy slinks out to the discard pile of forgiven sins and waves it in front of us, baiting us into unfounded self-shame. When this happens, we must call Satan out and put the sin back where it belongs in the trash. How can we keep from reliving our sin over and over again? How do we fight the “Boomerang Effect”? The answer is in Psalm 103:11. Instead of focusing on our sin, we ask God to remind us of His love, which is as high as the heavens are above the earth. No sin can separate us from His incredible love!

Pray

Father, thank you for your incredible love for me. Thank you for sending Jesus to take away the weight of my sin permanently. When I am tempted to drag up past mistakes and wallow in them, help me to meditate on your great love for me instead.

Reflect

How has God’s love changed me from who I used to be?