Down To The Nitty-Gritty

T

he sound of the ceramic saw and the steady pounding of the hammer told me that the long-awaited day had arrived.  My brother was busy installing the bathroom floor in our house.  He and I had purchased an old fixer-upper and we had been working for over a year, totally renovating the property.  One of the highlights of this project involved installing marble tile in the bathroom. Our parents made it possible for us to buy the tile and the time had come to install it.

Fortunately for us, Kevin was able to use his many talents to work on several aspects of the house.  He did a lot of the carpentry work, installed the light fixtures, painted, hung wall paper, and added the little details that most people would have overlooked.  Today, however, he was installing the marble tile, one of the last stages toward completing our bathroom.

After putting down the sub-flooring, Kevin snapped chalk lines, mixed the mortar, and laid the tiles in place.  When he finished, the floor looked wonderful.  Where there had only been plywood, brand new pieces of marble now joined together to create a beautiful, durable floor.  However, despite its beauty, the floor remained unfinished and incomplete.  Between each tile was a gap that separated it from the neighboring tiles.  The process of installing the floor wouldn’t be completed until Kevin added grout and sealant to the newly-installed tiles.

The next day, Kevin entered the bathroom to put down the grout.  It was a messy and tiring job as he mixed the grout and worked it into the spaces between the tiles.  Afterward, the tile had to be rubbed down, washed, and dried.  It took him the better part of a day to complete the project but when he finished, the floor was complete, ready to be used.  The only thing remaining was to let the grout dry so it could be sealed.  

I learned a very valuable lesson from the installation of that floor.  Although the marble tile was beautiful, its installation was incomplete apart from the grout.  Without it, the tiles were separated and unattractive.  However, when Kevin got down to the nitty-gritty, when he worked the grout into the spaces between the tiles, the floor came out just right. Without the grout, the tiles would have bucked and cracked. But the grout joined them, protected them, and allowed them to be united into one floor.

The nitty-gritty work is always important.  When we speak of getting down to the nitty gritty we mean performing the most basic part of any task.  Without this step, nothing else matters.  Although we use the best materials and take great care, without our getting down to the nitty-gritty, our work is all in vain.

Jesus used this concept of getting down to the nitty-gritty in his conversation with Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling counsel.  Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and spoke with him about the requirements for obtaining salvation and entering the kingdom of God.  John 3 records Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus and the conversation they had.  Jesus made very precise statements about the process of entering God’s kingdom.  Nicodemus had several questions and some difficulty about Jesus’ words. 

John 3:3 records the one requirement for becoming a child of God.  We could call it the
”nitty-gritty” of becoming a Christian.  This is what Jesus told Nicodemus that evening, “In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”  Notice what Jesus told Nicodemus.  No one can see God’s kingdom unless he has a second birth.  That is all inclusive. It doesn’t matter who you are, who your parents are or were, what you have, or what you don’t have.  Unless you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you cannot see God’s kingdom.

This was a hard saying for Nicodemus and it is for people today.  Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling counsel, was like fine marble tile.  He was wealthy, he had all the luxuries of life, he had influence, he had knowledge, and he had power.  Still, there were gaps in his life, large areas that separated him from those around him.  More importantly, these gaps in his life separated him from God.

Nicodemus knew that something was missing; something that all his earthly riches and influence could not secure for him.  So, he came to Jesus, searching for the one thing he lacked to set his life in order.  Jesus got right down to the nitty-gritty.  In order to share in God’s salvation and his kingdom, Nicodemus would have to be “born again”, that is born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ.  His possessions, his status, his position in his community, and his influence over others were of no importance concerning his spiritual condition.  The only thing that mattered was his status before God.  That status hinged on the decision Nicodemus would make about his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ standards have not changed.  His statement to Nicodemus is as true for us as it was for him.  We must get down to the nitty-gritty and answer the question about our relationship with Jesus.  Is he Lord and Savior?  Is he the master of our lives?  Have we accepted him and his free gift of salvation?  Until we can answer all of these questions with a resounding yes, our lives will have gaps and spaces in them, keeping us at a distance from others and from God.  Don’t you think it’s time you got down to the nitty-gritty of life today?