Articles for March 2016

Spring Cleaning – Proverbs 20:9; 2 Corinthians 13:5

 

According to the calendar, Spring arrived a few weeks ago. And for the most part we’ve had some pretty “spring-like” weather. But this past week has brought us back to the reality that a Michigan winter never gives up easily. March is one of those months that can go either way; Spring-like or Winter holding on to the end. As the temperatures increase and snow turns to rain showers another reality becomes evident; snow and ice melting away leaves behind the residue of filth accumulated since last fall. Everything looks dirty, muddy, piles of gravel from a winter’s worth of snowplowing. It seems that there is mud everywhere! It’s impossible to keep a car clean!

It’s not only outdoors where we find the accumulation of dirt and residue left behind by a long winter. This is where we come by the age old phrase, “Spring Cleaning”.  Open those windows and doors, clean out those places that have been closed up and covered up for months – gone unattended for a season. It happens. Something is sparkling clean and we admire it, being the way it’s supposed to be. But it won’t stay that way if it only sits there being admired. It must be maintained, dusted, polished, cared for, repaired. It doesn’t take anything long to regress if it’s not cared for.

Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”

That goes for the Spiritual condition of our hearts as well. It is imperative that we continually maintain our hearts through prayer, meditation on the Word of God, and repentance when we stumble – always maintaining our close relationship with the Lord and depending on Him fully.

When sin has been evicted from us, if we do not replace it with the good things of God, sin will find its way back again. Mt. 12:43-45 43“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

A dirty object doesn’t cleanse itself. Our hearts are precious to us. It’s the seat, the origination of all that is good or evil. It’s that place where sinful thoughts are nurtured or done away with. Our hearts are constantly presented with propositions to do good or evil. Dust and dirt is looking for a place to settle and if we don’t keep it wiped down and polished, it’ll accumulate and our hearts will grow filthy dirty.

Let’s not wait for Spring to do our cleaning. Your heart is your soul’s navigation system. It must be constantly monitored and maintained. Let us constantly look to Jesus as our maintenance man, leaning on him for His protection and seeking His will and guidance every single day.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?

In Christ,

Rick