Why the Christian Life Is Like Being a Plumber

August 5, 2026/Le Ann Trees/
Photo Credit: Jacob Wackerhausen / iStock.com

Photo Credit: Jacob Wackerhausen / iStock.com

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My husband and I started a remodel of our condominium in 2021, which extended into 2022. As you’ve no doubt heard many times when it comes to remodels, it took a lot longer and cost a lot more money than we thought it would. We’re really enjoying living in our condo, but it took quite a lot to get here.

Before our remodel began, we made a commitment to always put people before things throughout the process. Stuff is stuff, and how something turns out isn’t more important than the people involved in the work.

Our plumber did some outstanding work on our condo, which we greatly appreciated. Regrettably, he or someone on his crew also made some truly head-scratching mistakes along the way that my husband and I looked past, thinking everyone messes up now and then. Hey, we’re nice people after all, right? We can shrug off a few oopsies. We only had one working sink when we moved back into our place, but after only a few days we had to leave for Colorado to help care for our grandchildren.

We gave the plumber a list of things that still needed to be done while we were away, which included finishing the faucets. We came home to find that almost nothing had been done on the list. Instead, the plumber had gone into our garage, uncrated our new range, and carried it upstairs to install it, even though the big-box store where we purchased the range was going to install it for free. We found our range sitting in the middle of our kitchen because the plumber had to stop the installation due to issues with the gas line. He meant well, but we needed him to work on the items on the list we gave him. We decided to hire another plumber to finish installing the sink fixtures.

A few days later our master bathroom toilet backed up, and we ended up with water coming out of our ceiling onto our new dining room wood flooring. Plumber #2 came over to fix the issue, which ended up being more mess than anyone needs to hear about, if you know what I mean. Thankfully, the really dirty work happened in our garage, which is below the living spaces of our condo.

The first surprise came when the plumber found something inside the toilet drain line: one of the toilet bolts that secures the toilet to the floor. He told us that when he removed the toilet, only one bolt was holding it to the floor. Since the line still wasn’t clear, we realized that we needed a plumber with a camera. Plumber #3 came over and found, wait for it, a cloth in the drain line.

The cloth issue likely occurred because during construction, someone stuffed a cloth into the toilet drain to keep debris out and it probably fell down the drain at some point without anyone realizing it. In hindsight, if I had the choice before construction began, I think I would have gone with the debris instead of the cloth! And whoever installed the toilet—perhaps one of the first plumber’s assistants—likely dropped one of the bolts down the drain and decided to go ahead and attach the toilet with only one bolt, thinking that would be sufficient.

Needless to say, having a bolt and a cloth in our toilet drain line was not going to end well. As water poured out of my dining room ceiling and other things came out of my garage ceiling, I kept remembering my commitment and thought to myself, “I’m trying to be a nice person through all this, but, Lord, you’re making it hard on me—really, really hard!”

Life often feels like someone keeps clogging our drains.

Our daily lives as Christians are a lot like what happened to my husband and me with our plumbing. You’re trying to be a godly child, sibling, church member, employee, spouse, parent, or friend, and someone comes along and causes things that shouldn’t be there to disrupt your life.

Maybe people you love are participating in ongoing sinful behavior or are struggling with an addiction. Their circumstances are not only hurting themselves and you, but they are also draining you emotionally, spiritually, and even financially. Maybe you had expectations of a fellow believer, but he or she let you down, and it hurts—a lot.

Maybe you’re particularly struggling right now with the effects of living in a fallen world: a natural disaster, health problems, difficulties at work, rude people, supply chain issues—you name it. And you’re just so frustrated. You think to yourself, “Lord, I’m trying. I want to be a good Christian. I want to be loving. But you’re making it hard on me!” But wait—there’s more!

We aren’t just victims of other people’s messes. We throw plenty of our own “stuff” down the drain too. We look at things we shouldn’t look at. We think thoughts we shouldn’t think. We do things we know God tells us not to do, and we fail to do the things God tells us to do.

Furthermore, all of us have been wounded by the recent and long-ago actions of others. The hurt they have caused goes deep, like the things stuck in my home’s plumbing that were never supposed to be there. And it seems almost impossible to remove those hurts and repair our broken hearts.

Christ calls us to bring refreshment and to help clean up life’s messes.

What my husband and I really needed was a highly proficient plumber—not someone who was simply going to tell us everything would be okay, but someone who could discover what our plumbing problems were, actually fix them, and clean up the mess.

And this is your calling, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as a plumber makes a home more livable by bringing in fresh, life-giving water and carrying away harmful waste, you are called to bring life-giving refreshment to your neighbor through words and deeds that flow from your love for Jesus Christ.

You are also called to help your neighbor deal with the filth of sin and the painful effects of living in a fallen world as faithfully as you can. And your brothers and sisters in Christ are called to do the same for you.

So, in a sense, Christian service is like being a plumber!

Helping others requires wisdom, not just good intentions.

Sometimes our relationship problems will be so grievous that knowing what the next loving step should be is difficult. Something that made my plumbing situation much worse was that the second plumber, a hardworking young person starting out in the trade, tried to clear the clog by plunging the toilet. The force broke the wax seal on the toilet and caused more problems, including a small pond in our dining room. A more experienced plumber might have taken more time to assess the nature of the clogged drain before applying force.

When we are confronted with a relational situation that is “clogged” for some reason, we must also proceed carefully. We don’t want the cure to be more damaging than the original issue. We need wisdom, patience, and love when dealing with sin and suffering. Before we realized how dire our plumbing situation was, our toilet began bubbling when we flushed it. That was a warning sign that needed to be heeded.

Most of us can look back on relational issues and see the early warning signs, yet we didn’t really want to acknowledge them at the time. We hoped it was our imagination or simply not a big deal, and that the problem, if it really existed, would go away on its own. But sin doesn’t work that way. What we see on the outside is likely darker and more serious beneath the surface.

We give grace because we have received grace.

This is why it’s so important for us to know our faith, to mature in godliness, and to go through life experiences so that we can become well-equipped “Christian plumbers.”

We’re not just showing up to help someone who’s hurting by sharing trite platitudes like some well-meaning people said to me after my son died, such as “God must have needed another angel” or “they’re not really ours, they’re only borrowed.”

The good tools God has given us—his Word, biblical wisdom, tender hearts, and spiritual maturity—help us discern what is really going on so we can truly love the person and either provide or direct him or her to the care that’s needed.

When I reflect back on our plumbing experience with the perspective of time, I can better appreciate that everyone was trying to do their job well; they’re human just like me and “stuff” happens. I needed to give them grace as I have been given grace by God.

Finding joy in our relationships involves both making things beautiful and cleaning up life’s messes. While we can’t make life perfect for others or solve every problem they face, we can strive to be a blessing to everyone God brings into our lives in both the joyful and trying circumstances of life until Christ returns.

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