I’ve been a sloppy heart and housekeeper lately. Neither my heart nor my house will clean themselves.
My mother urged me to be sensitive to the needs of others, especially her need to keep our home immaculate. “Look at these filthy floors and foul bathrooms,” she would declare. My husband graciously points out the specks of dust I can’t see or old food boxes and bags that clutter the pantry.
I remember visiting my mother when Daddy was in a nursing home. I was stunned how the years had snatched her scrupulous sensitivity to the grime on her kitchen counters. Is that what happens when our brains wear out? Maybe some things go to the back burner (literally) and off the earthly check-off lists.
Not so in God’s eternal kingdom. Do I ignore the stench of rotting desires in my heart as piles of dust and clutter multiply inside my home? A connection exists between the physical and the spiritual, as Nehemiah’s account of cleansing the temple and tackling personal reform illustrate.
For our own good, God never lets up. He pleads, “Clean up those hidden rooms that have become dusty and grimy—those secret sins. You ignore them, but I can’t. Throw out those useless activities that clutter your life and rob time and attention from Me. They are fluff, worthless in My kingdom. Instead, fill your heart with My treasures!”
Into the heart trash-dump, I toss the box of stale relationships and multiple bags of thingamajigs, which take up much needed space for Jesus. Cleaning the compartments of my heart is a daily, oftentimes hourly routine.
Grab the sponge and bucket and get to work on your heart today.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Macy Johnson is a native Floridian living the lake-life in Georgia. She is an instrument of God’s blessings as a writer, church pianist, community accompanist, wife, mother, nana, Bridge player, adoptee, retired auditor, and member of Word Weavers International. Her “God Sightings” are published weekly in the Greensboro Herald-Journal. Find her at www.macymjohnson.com, macymjohnson@gmail.com, and on Facebook as Macy Martin Johnson.