Psalm 51:2-3
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Psalm 51:7-10
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me
Spring Cleaning
Okay people get your dust cloths ready, drag out your vacuum cleaners and get them revved up and ready to go. Don’t forget about the mops and brooms, room deodorizers, window cleaners and a bucket of paint for a fresh touch up. It’s time for some good old-fashion spring cleaning. Now that it is spring lets exchange the Winter bedspreads and throw pillows for those that have bright bold sun shinny colors all representing the new season that is approaching. Raise your windows and let the fresh air blow through your home for a change. Why not move your furniture around and rearrange it for a new designer look. Wow! Too bad we don’t have those old-fashioned clotheslines to hang out our sheets and towels on to really freshen them up. I guess I might be getting carried away here. Who am I kidding we don’t have time for that. I got exhausted just thinking about it.Thank God for washers and dryers. By the way if you’re reading this and you are starting to feel a little anxiety approaching calm down and stay with me, I am going somewhere.
The point of this is certainly not to cast guilt on anyone. I realize that these days many of you are blessed to have someone hired to come in and do these wonderful chores for you, while others still enjoy doing it themselves. Did you notice that the word enjoy made it seem less painful.
I know most of you are thinking at this point, thank God spring only comes once a year. No matter how it gets done or who does it the end result is you get to step inside a nice freshly clean and newly organized home at the end of the day.
While gathering my thoughts for this lesson in honor of spring the scripture Psalms 51:10 came to mind. “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me”. I began to wonder what would our spiritual lives look like if we asked God to help us with a little spring cleaning in that area. When is the last time you asked him to sweep the corners of your heart to be sure even the secret sins were thrown out and disposed of. Let us ask him to cleanse us from jealousy, envy, gossiping, resentment, and bitterness. Let’s sweep out hypocrisy and lying, and dust off the doubt, fear, and lack of faith and unbelief. All of which are things that hold us back from truly expressing the joy of fully knowing our hope in Christ. While we are cleaning we should get rid of sins of the flesh as well. Such as gluttony, alcoholism, and adultery and fornication just to name a few.
Now we are really ready for spring our physical and our spiritual houses are clean. Whether physical or spiritual, cleaning is always work but always well worth the effort. It is wonderful when our Spring cleaning is completed and we have a clean place to reside, just as it is wonderful when God can reside inside our clean hearts.
With clean houses inside and out we are now ready for our first spring dinner party. Why not invite some friends over to share in the celebration of a task finally completed, and a job well done. Be blessed and enjoy your clean hearts and clean houses.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
