Oil and Water Don't Mix

Opposing sides - the one is against the other - kind of like oil and water. Mix oil and water - is it possible to get oil 'into' water? Two very distinct 'layers' will eventually form no matter how hard you try to mix the two - they are opposed to each other. Scientifically speaking, molecules of oil are bigger than water and therefore they don't mix into the water - they stay as oil, not taking on the water molecule. Sin is kind of like a big molecule of oil in our lives - it can sit there a long, long time, trying to get 'mixed up' in our life of righteousness (water), but these two 'molecules' don't mix! They will always be opposed to each other.

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? (Galatians 5:16 MSG)

To live freely, one must abandon the ways of living that are 'antithetical' (those opposing forces in our lives) to the 'right choices' we are to make now that we have Christ resident within us. We are always going to deal with sin in our lives - rising to the surface - previously undetected, but becoming quite obvious to us at some point. Sin rises to the top - making itself known. It is harder to see it when we are trying to just 'mix it up' in every area of our lives, scattering it around as though it would somehow 'mix in' and be unnoticed. The sin will always rise to the top!

It has been said that opposites attract - it doesn't mean they will ever fully mix! There will always be self-interest at work within us - it is our nature. It doesn't always seem apparent to us that there are two forces at work within us - we just know we are trying to 'mix things up' so that we don't have to see the nasty sludge of sin rise up and be visible in us. The bond of the oxygen and hydrogen molecules that make up water are so strong that the molecules that make up the oil cannot fully 'attach' to the water molecules. They can mix in for a while, but eventually they will separate again.

That is true until you add what is called an emulsifier. In simplest terms, the emulsifier makes it look like the oil and water have mixed, but in truth they are just 'spread out' molecules, not really combined molecules. Sin doesn't mix with righteousness - ever! It will always stand out as its own molecule! This may be one way of helping us to identify what doesn't belong in our lives - that which stands out as never really 'belonging' in the mixture of our life! Maybe instead of finding ways to try to mix sin into our lives so it isn't evident we need to be allowing it to come to the surface so it can be 'skimmed off' and finally rid ourselves of it! Just sayin!