Sunday is the typical cleaning day for the Danciu household. No one enjoys it and least of all my little piglets. There is no such thing as a joyful heart when it comes to my kids and cleaning up their rooms. The irony is every Saturday night all I get is promises of being a happy helper for the next day. Yeah right! So this past Saturday I talked about the importance of cleaning up our rooms and how it is equivalent to cleaning up our hearts for Jesus. You need to make a nice spacious place to rest and feel at home. During this conversation I see a solemn look come across my 4 year olds face. Jocie, I say, tell me what you are thinking about? “Mommy I know how to clean up my dolls but I don’t know how to clean up my heart? I mean how do I clean up my time outs when I am bad?” I had to chuckle!
Of course at the same time how many of us have that same confusion about cleaning up our own guilt? I think the majority of us follow the simple “Sweep it under the rug” method. If you don’t see it then you don’t think about it. Unfortunately that isn’t really true is it? For too long I have tried the sweep method when it comes to the big stuff. There are certain things that I just didn’t think God could forgive me for because I couldn’t forgive myself for it. Sometimes it is just too hard to clean up the shame and guilt of sin.
Many images I have of Christ and Heaven relate to light, clouds, harps, and the perfection of it all. Now that I have a closer connection to God I try to find a more realistic view of God. We are manifested in His image and sometimes the simplest way to view Him is to see how we are as parents. So I imagine myself on Sunday evenings rushing to get everything in order for the week ahead. I clean one room only to have to go to the next. Then the next and then the next… (Trust me my house isn’t that big just that messy) The most aggravating thing to me is to reenter a room and see in a corner or hiding under a bed one of the kid’s toys. I could scream. My nose starts to twitch and my palms start to sweat. “If they would just clean up after themselves I wouldn’t have to clean up behind them every stinking time!!!!”
Can you imagine our God being the same way? Here He is with this awesome vacuum called “The Grace Machine” just cleaning up the residue we leave behind or sweep under the rug. “My child; please stop dragging this around and let’s get rid of it for once and for all!”
If you are confident in your relationship with God, (confidence meaning to live life boldly without fear of past or present), then you are disgracing your Father by not allowing Him to love you. Once you give Him your old ways to discard then He can love you anew and without judgment of the past.
No past sin or disgrace is too dirty for God’s redeeming power.
Now if I could only borrow his vacuum to clean up all of these toys.
God bless to all of my faithful friend and followers.
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. “
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Come as a little child. Jocelyn is looking for her
ReplyDeleteHeart to be cleansed so the door is open for Jesus
To come in. Praise God