Some people want Jesus to clean up their messes, but they don’t want to face seeing the lurking junk in their hearts. Such attitudes remind me of people who throw broken furniture and junk in their basements or storage sheds. “We’ll get to that one day.” That one day never comes until one day there is an emergency, and the plumber needs to access the water lines in the basement. So the homeowners call 1-800-Haul-Junk, and the company comes and takes it all away. The homeowner never had to take a foot down into their basement, and the mess was all taken care of.
The homeowner vows they’ll never get in such a mess again, but its a lot of work to haul that broken-down TV to the recycling centre, maybe it won’t matter if it goes down to the basement for now. Oh, and the credenza it sat on? The new TV doesn’t fit on it, so they might as well put it in the basement as well until that trip to the dump is planned. And hey, those clothes meant for goodwill, they can cram in behind the closed doors of the credenza nice enough. Out of sight, out of mind. And the cycle continues.
Fortunately for us, Jesus isn’t a 1-800 Junk dealer. He takes us by the hand, and leads us to our cluttered basements and says He’ll help us clean up our mess. Yes, He clears away shame and guilt, but He doesn’t stop there. He wants to get to the root of the problem, and He wants to deal with our procrastination and avoidance issues. He wants to take those dank, cluttered basements we are afraid to explore, expose them to His light and make them into inviting dwelling places and sanctuaries of peace.
Personal Application
Have you allowed fear, worry, or sin to invade your once decluttered heart? Are guilt and shame attached to that reinstated clutter weighing you down? Have you set yellow caution tape around past wounds and regrets that you just don’t want to look at? Are those areas still plaguing you no matter how hard you try to avoid them?
Take some time to ponder the following Bible passages. Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, grab a journal or open a fresh page on your text app, take a deep breath, and allow God into those places. Don’t be in a rush.
He already knows your heart, even better than you do, and He still loves and cherishes it.
Psalm 139 (Read the entire psalm but start here) – O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
He is inviting you into a conversation, and He’s offering to restore your heart. Reason is something you do with your mind, however. Ask God to show you the ‘whys’ of repeated patterns and the ‘whys’ behind those doors you don’t want him to explore with you.
Isaiah 1:18 – Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.”
Ask for both a clean heart and a steadfast spirit to maintain that clean heart.
Psalm 51:10 – Create in me a clean heart, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Invite the Holy Spirit to convict you every time you are tempted to toss stuff down the basement stairs of your heart.
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Until Next Week,
©2021 Katherine Walden