Cleaning Out the Clutter

Looking out of the window, one notices the many changes the earth must go through to prepare for the next season. Autumn is approaching, and yards tend to get a little messy as trees begin to shed their leaves. Certain animals are busy stocking up the last of supplies they will need to survive the winter. It seems that autumn is a busy time for one of God's greatest creations, the earth. Autumn is also a busy time for Christians, as many are attending Fall Revival services.

My goal today was to get up and clean out the clutter in my home. As the winter wardrobe is brought to the front of my closet, there are pieces of the wardrobe that may be too big, too small, too outdated, too uncomfortable, or just no longer needed or wanted, that is taking up valuable space needed for the new pieces that may appear this winter. (Everyone knows that I love to shop!) If I did not make this needed room, new items that would appear would have no place in my closet and might possibly be ruined by the mismanagement and misuse of them. They would be wasted!

Last night at our fall revival, Rev. Tae Edwards preached a whole sermon on tears, which I absolutely loved because I'm a big crybaby anyway! One of his thoughts was that tears were created to clean out the dirt and grit from our eyes that is blocking our eyesight. From a spiritual standpoint, he talked about the emotional tears that we shed. He stated that the emotional tears we shed are cleaning out "junk" that is blocking the visions that God has for us to see. You see, when God shows us things, they are connected to our purpose in some way. However, if we can't see and hear what God wants from us, our purpose may get a little blurry and we become unfulfilled in our lives. Then Rev. Tae Edwards dared us to cry and wash away things that had been building up within us. Things that we know no one else will understand, even our closest friends and loved ones. He dared us to weep because, even Jesus wept. Of course, I cried! ; )

As I awoke to begin cleaning out the material clutter in my home, I realized that last night, I cleaned out some spiritual clutter; some "junk" that was blocking me from being God's servant and God's servant only. Most of this "junk" was built up in my heart, which today I am thinking of as my "spiritual closet". Think of how many emotions we build up in our hearts: feelings of hurt, resentment, hatred, jealousy, envy, dissatisfaction with life, and even rage. Sometimes I pray this very scripture:

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (KJV)
(By the way, praying scriptures is a great way to pray when what you can't find the words to speak to your Heavenly Father!)




 In Psalm 51, David cried out to God after the prophet Nathan had come to him because of David's encounter with Bathsheba. David's heart was full of lust, temptation, and finally guilt for acting upon these sinful natures. David knew that God was the only one that could cleanse his heart.


There is valuable room being wasted in our hearts because things that have built up in it may be too old, too outdated, too big for us to deal with alone, and even too small to matter in our lives. Let some stuff go! Create room for more qualities of Christ that you can use daily such as love, mercy upon others, compassion, understanding, and humbleness. Colossians chapter 3 instructs us to take off old things, and put on the new. Read this in your spare time today. God may show you what you need to clean out and take off in order to put on new things. When our hearts are renewed, so is our spirit. We feel better, and we treat others better. The best part about cleaning out the clutter is that through the process, we become closer to our Lord.

Autumn is a time to clean out the clutter and get ready for new things. Yesterday I said "YES"! After the "YES" came the beginning of my cleansing process. It may take a day, it may take a month, or even a year to let some stuff go, but I know that it is possible because I have Christ. Thank you Lord for the blood that washes us white as snow!