Time to Clean

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."                  (Romans 13:12).

     We all have taken on the task of cleaning out closets, drawers, attics, basements, or any other storage place where things get thrown into with the hopes of someday organizing.  When the time comes to organize and clean, we usually find every excuse to put off the task, because we just don't want to deal with it. However, once we begin going through all the stuff, we are always shocked at what all we find. We think, "Where did all this come from? What is this? Does it even work anymore? Why do I still have this? I don't even know where the rest of it is. I don't even know how to use it." On and on the comments come as we find more things that we didn't even know we had.

     Sometimes, we look at our floors or tables and furniture and wonder where all the dust and dirt comes from. It seems like we clean it, and a few minutes later dust and dirt have come back.  The dust is in the air and is constantly moving around waiting to settle onto something. The floors get dirty due to us walking out into the world to work or wherever, and we track it into our house. We have to be cautious where we walk outside so we do not track things onto our floors. 

     So it is with our spirit man. We know we need to purge and clean our hearts and lives, but we would rather put it off until another day. We find something else to do to take our mind off of the clutter and junk in our lives, but every day that we postpone dealing with it, adds to the mess. We must be careful how we walk in our daily lives. When we walk in the sinful world, if we don't guard our heart, it will soon come into our spirit man. We may not realize it at first, but before long, we will see how dirty we have become and wonder how we could have let it get that way.

     When we stop everything and focus on the task of cleaning our hearts and lives, we will often find there are things in there that have been there a long time. Some of the things in our minds and hearts we didn't even know was there. We don't know where it came from, we don't know why it is even there. As we look through our hearts and minds, we may find things like anger, unforgiveness, bad attitudes, rebellion, criticism, complaining, grudges, backbiting, bitterness, sinful desires, evil thoughts, doubt, habits that are not Godly, time-consuming and time-wasting activities, prayerlessness, or sins of any kind. 

     We may not always intend to keep these things, we just don't make an effort to get rid of it.  It can seem overwhelming sometimes to try to get rid of these things, but it must be done. Our Scripture tells us to cast these things off. This means to get rid of them, to walk away from them, to shun them and avoid them no matter what. 

"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;" (Colossians 3:8-9).

"Abstain from all appearance of evil."  (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

      Anything that separates us from God needs to be removed today. The longer it is allowed to stay, the harder it will be to get rid of. Search all areas of your life today and ask God to search. When we search, we tend to leave things that we want to keep. When He searches, He reveals all things that need to go. Our flesh doesn't always like that, but it is beneficial for us in the long run.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139: 23-24)


     Let today be the day that all the things that are displeasing to God go from our lives. Truly search your heart and mind. Ask God to search your heart and give you a heart that desires what God wants. Ask Him to purify your heart and change you from the inside out. He is willing and ready to do so. Give it to God and He will cleanse you! You don't need to hold onto any of it any longer. It is profiting you nothing. Repent and walk away from it. Cast it off and don't pick it back up. Let Jesus set you free!

     "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (1 Peter 5:7).