Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. And in today's episode, we're asking the question, is it really about the dishes? This is by an about an article I read in the Atlantic by Ellen Cushing called the absolutely positively correct way to load your dishwasher.

And if you're married, you're never gonna feel more seen than in this article and in this episode. That's because this article and episode are about arguing over the right way or wrong way to load your dishwasher. By the way, I guess you don't have to be married. You could just have roommates. It seems to be you put two people in a home with the dishwasher, and they are going to argue about the right way to load it.

In fact, one in three people in America argue over loading the dishwasher. One in three. That's an incredible amount of people arguing over whether to rent or not rent. What goes on the top rack, the bottom rack? Do you put all the silverware together, forks with forks, spoons of spoons, or do you mix it up?

And odds are one of those things just made you really, really mad, at least according to the article, because you're arguing about it and so am I. But but what I wanna make the point of is that although there are arguments to be had over the dishwasher and even arguments to be made, one of the things the article does a good job of is showing how the science is always changing. They're saying different things like rents or not rents based on the decade. No one really knows, but I hope you know yourself enough to know this. It's not really about the dishwasher.

The truth is that when we argue about inane things, we are really just showing a small fracture in our relationship or in our hearts that the dishwasher is simply bringing out. The truth is we're wrestling with much bigger questions about identity or upbringing or expectations about what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman, what it means to love your spouse or be loved by your spouse. So I had a therapist say this once to me in a counseling session. Anger is the emotion of people who don't know how to deal with their emotions. That one hit me right between the eyes.

The point being, when we're getting mad about the dishwasher, usually, it's because we don't have the emotional awareness or or capability to say, you've hurt my feelings. You're making me feel not valued. You don't make me feel heard. I'm worried you don't respect me and so on and so forth. Listen.

It isn't about the dishes. It might be about your dirty laundry. It might be about things that need to be resolved, and that's where the bible can help. Because God has told us time and time again in the bible that reconciliation begins with the recognition of the wrong that has been done. By the way, that's true between us and God.

First John two says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful to forgive us. But if we say we have no sin, we have a bigger spiritual problem. Even our relationship with God depends on our willingness to talk about what we got wrong. How much more so than our relationship with each other? James four one tells us that oftentimes small fights reveal bigger heart issues, that the quarreling that is happening in our marriages, in our roommate relationships is is actually stemming from something far deeper and darker going on inside of us.

What the Bible is telling us is to say that, to talk about it, to ask for forgiveness, and to extend it because the dishwasher should be an act of worship. That's right. The Bible tells us whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, we do it to the glory of God. That's first Corinthians 10. But in in Colossians three, it tells us that everything should be done with the spirit of worship.

Loading and unloading the dishwasher can be an amazing way of communicating love and value to a stay at home mom who's been working all day. Loading and unloading the dishwasher can be an incredible way of loving a working mom who's tired. And round and round we go. Wife to husband, husband to wife, helping out around the house is about so much more than the dishes. Getting the dishwasher loaded is about so much more than whether you're doing it air quotes here right or wrong.

The Bible tells us to find the love in the things that we're doing. It also tells us to have our day to day life ruled by grace and peace. In Ephesians four or second Corinthians five, we're being called to be ministers of peace to each other, to share the the kind of rest and security that comes from our identity being in Christ, from our own experience of forgiveness and of love that we extend to each other. Listen, if you're fighting about the dishwasher, can you be honest enough with yourself to stop and say, there are some other things that I'm upset about that I really should be talking about. Maybe just close the dishwasher, pour a cup of coffee, and sit down at the kitchen island, and finally talk about what's on your mind and about what's on your heart.

If your spouse or roommate is loading the dishwasher, maybe just be thankful for someone who cares enough to help out instead of focusing on whether they get it right. And if the dishwasher needs to be loaded or needs to be emptied, maybe go do it for the glory of God and as an act of kindness and love to the person you live with. Listen, dishwashers are great, but they're not really the point. Love. Love is the point.

To borrow from the apostle Paul, even if I load the dishwasher perfectly, but I have not love, then I'm not. Hey. Thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!