It's no secret really...you can come to my house and glance around and you'll recognize that I enjoy cleaning. Yes. Cleaning...dusting, vacuuming, cleaning windows and mirrors, sweeping and even laundry. Yes...I said it, I LIKE LAUNDRY!
I'm sure most of you are like, well good for her, but I don't. I know...cleaning is one of those tasks that if you think about it, it's almost pointless...you sleep in the bed day after day...do you really need to make it every morning? I mean, soon as you clean up one thing...another seems to mess right up.
Today as I was cleaning in my kitchen...I began to think...you know the everyday cleaning is not bad, I enjoy it...you get instant results...personal gratification. Dirty surfaces become shiny and fresh..and it really isn't a ton of effort. But that deep down "spring" cleaning....where things get taken apart...couches get moved...fridges are pulled out...and in our home..lost Legos are resurrected...well that cleaning...it just doesn't really do much for me. It's a lot of work.
And then, I began to wonder what the Lord feels when He begins a deep cleaning in our hearts. He doesn't back down because it's going to take awhile. He doesn't just give up because He knows the deeper He digs...the messier it will often be. What a patient Father we have.
"The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Psalm 145:8
It's hard to get motivated to attack that Spring Cleaning, in fact, I often enlist my husband or my kids...it's easier to go at it together. That unending list gets shorter and shorter faster and faster the more hands you've got attacking it!
It's like our walk, our journey as believers...we so easily can get discouraged...lose focus and wonder what in the world is going on here? But God, rich in mercy, abounding in faithfulness has placed fellow Christ followers in our lives at different seasons for specific purposes..one of which I am certain is so we can sharpen one another.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17
Then as I moved into the bathrooms, I began to think about sanctification. The act of God Himself setting us apart for his own purpose. Sometimes it's refreshing. Honestly at times...by the grace of God I can see sin in my own life and...often I will cry out for mercy...just as the man in Luke "God have mercy on me, a sinner" I mean...there is a tremendous weight lifted when the Lord walks us through the a battle with sin, and we emerge victorious! That victory...and the freedom from sin is liberating...it often overwhelms and overflows my heart with gratitude and grace. It's so amazing the grace that flows from a victorious an free heart. Praise be to God.
In Ephesians 5, the word talks about familial relations and shows us the example of how we are to love. Specifically...that husbands are to love as Christ did. But what is so beautiful about this, is the way Christ's rich love is expressed....it is expressed in the very act of the Cross. The act of literally giving Himself up for us...because of His love. Follow me through this, I believe it will richly bless your heart. In Ephesians 5:25-27 it says:
"just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless."
The deep cleaning, or biblically speaking...the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in our lives...is purposed to dedicate us to the Lord. I absolutely love this about the original language of "sanctify" in this passage. It can mean to purify....in three ways....first to cleanse externally, second to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin and third to purify internally by renewing of the soul. (emphasis mine...and the third is my favorite)....this is what I'm talking about. The Lord digs in. He knows that the cleaning will take time, He knows the mess or in my case...messes that will surface when He begins a work in my heart...and yet...He goes for it anyway. He also in absolute perfection, does something that not many a friend will do...He stays right by our side...in fact..not even besides us..He leads us. He will never leave us nor forsake us...Hebrews 13:5 promises us that.
When we emerge from that deep cleaning, that time with the Lord....our souls radiate His presence because of His great grace and faithfulness. Our souls are renewed. They are more likened to Christ than when we started. Our hearts are revive according to His word...and I honestly believe that God our Father rejoices.
Because no matter the time, no matter the mess...the result is always the same...the Lord has sanctified in our hearts Himself as Lord...He has replaced the world's lies and temptations that so easily ensare us with His truth....His truth that is living an active an absolutely sets us free.
"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4
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