CLEANING HOUSE

The other day I had the opportunity to tackle a home project that I had long been putting off. I had some extra time and decided that it was time to clean out the garage. I knew it would be a long project but felt that it was definitely time that it got done. The driving force behind this decision what the awareness of something that flat out stunk!! I was actually scared to find out what the root of the smell was but none the less, I ventured in focused on my task. Sometimes in our lives, there are hidden things that are flat out stinking up our building as well!! We have two choices.

1.) We can either try to ignore it and hope it goes away.
2.) Or we can tackle the task and eliminate the source of the problem.

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer…” Matthew 21:12-13

As I went about cleaning out my garage, I was surprised to see just how much junk I had accumulated. I found myself asking, “Now just what was I holding onto this for?” The problem with holding on to all that “junk” was that by making room for it, I was losing room to store those things that really are of value to me and my family. The only way I was going to have room for the stuff of value was to rid myself and my garage of the things that were taking up useless space and inevitably “stinking”.

Often times in our lives, we too are losing valuable space because we’re holding on to things that not only hold no real value but hinder us from claiming and storing up the true treasures that God wants us to hold onto. In Matthew 21:12-13, Jesus recognized that there were things in the temple that didn’t belong there. The temple was housing attitudes, mis-placed thinking and ultimately sin that didn’t have a place there. Jesus in a rage started to “Clean House” and there’s a lesson for us to learn here.

The Bible says that our bodies have become living temples (1 Cor. 3:16) and the truth is that we allow much to be housed in them that crowds out God and His purposes for us. Think about it. What is being stored in your houses and what is being left out.

1. Are our Saturday evening activities draining us to the point of finding ourselves too tired to attend church on Sunday?
2. Are our favorite T.V. shows more important than our weekly study and prayer time?
3. Is our quest for material things crowding out our responsibility to support the church and God’s Kingdom?

You see when we don’t make time to clean our insides; it will begin show on our outsides and inevitably start to stink. It is so important that our priorities in life always find God at the top of them. Right priorities begin with God, grow out of a consistent dependence on God and flourish as a result of our obedience to God. When we give God the right place in our lives, our lives will show it.

Take some time to take on the project of “Cleaning House” in your life. Ask God to bring to the forefront the useless things that are crowding out the things of God that He wants you to enjoy. After all it’s been said that “Cleanliness is the next closest thing to Godliness!”

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with me.” Psalm 51:10

Pastor Seth <><