Cleaning Heart: Is It On Your To-Do List?

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Ever sat in your mess for so long that it just became normal? Then, when you found out that you had company coming over unexpectedly your “okay” home was suddenly seen for what it was: a disaster!

Most of us try to keep our homes from getting to a crisis point. We do dishes, sweep the floors, and take the trash out on a (slightly more than) as-needed-basis. Our homes may not be spotless, but they’re comfortable when we keep up with our to-do lists.

Our hearts are the same way.

We go through our days accumulating “stuff” in our hearts. Our feelings, thoughts, memories, attitudes, and so on build up. The stuff of this world and of our flesh isn’t neat, tidy, or glamorous. It’s not too hard for our hearts to get messy.

Our hearts get loaded up with a lot of stuff that we even need to have for a short time. Feelings like anger or doubt are natural and have a purpose. Bad attitudes often develop in reaction to circumstances that we have to face. Our harsh thoughts and feelings of bitterness can help us to be discerning.

That doesn’t mean that all the gunk in our hearts is right. It also doesn’t mean that the stuff we’re supposed to let the necessary stuff sit and stew after it has run its course.

Take, for example, the Bible’s commands concerning anger. “Be angry and do not sin.” It’s not wrong to be angry –God gets mad. But, at what point is our anger sinful? When it accumulates in our hearts to overthrow other commandments, like wishing evil on people or taking revenge, our anger has begun to rot. “Leave room for God’s wrath” we read.  

For there to be room in our hearts for the Lord’s wrath (or the Lord’s hope, patience, or compassion) we have to do the work of cleaning heart.

Like our homes, we have to be aware of what comes in (can you say no muddy shoes?!) as well as what we do with what we have going on in there. Scripture outlines the way to sort out what's inside:

1. Acknowledge the Mess

Cleaning with your eyes closed doesn’t go so well. Neither does cleaning in the dark. It may be difficult to face what’s in your heart, but you need to. “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible--and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.”

2. Repent of What’s Gone Bad

What happens in your heart may or may not trickle out before you get to cleaning house. Either way, the Lord sees it. A sin in the heart is still a sin. Get rid of it, surrender it to the Lord in repentance.

As Acts 3:19 puts it: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Out with the junk, make room for His refreshing.

3. Get Washed

And then go further than choosing to “remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes.” “Put on the shining armor of right living.” Get clean and live accordingly. There is no need to wait, to dwell on the dirt, or to mourn the gunk that’s been removed: “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

That’s it. Praise the Lord that He is the One who “creates in us a clean heart.”

Isn’t that amazing? Our Lord goes before us to make us able to be confident before God (despite all the junk in our hearts.) The Holy Spirit lives in us, making room in these dusty, dirty hearts. 

We are free to live comfortably, knowing our hope is in Him even when our hearts are downright disgusting. And we’re free to be washed –inside out- anytime, anywhere.

Is going to the Lord for a cleaning of your heart on your to-do list today?

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, Intentionally Pursuing, and Titus2sday.

Our Hidden Faults

"The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it." --Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest.

www.english-heritage.org.uk

Have you ever had a moment –a terrible moment- when you realize that something that you thought you were SO right about and SO good in was actually really selfish or sinful?

An argument with your spouse, in which you took the high road, for example. Days later, as your loved one is doing penance, you realize how bitter and power-hungry your heart has been since winning the fight. Or, you’ve gone out of your way to encourage and uplift someone, and you’re reaping praise. But, in your heart, it’s not about loving the other person, it’s about looking good.

Been there. And does the Lord know it!

In Psalm 19:12, we find David praying “But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”

That’s right before He prays in verse 13: “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”

We’re reminded of several truths in these simple verses:

• ·         Sin is a condition we’re born into.
• ·         Sin can be, and often is, willful.
• ·         Sin can also be sneaky –we don’t always choose it outright but we’re attracted to it anyway and our hearts can be corrupted by it without us even trying to rebel on purpose against God.
• ·         Sin needs forgiveness, and we can’t earn that! There are sins we’re not even aware of that need forgiving.

There are a lot of sins that are hidden even from ourselves - often they are ones committed deeply within our hearts that have no apparent or direct bearing on the surrounding world. Some of these sins can’t even be found out by introspection. But the Lord knows them.

We belong to a Lord and creator who knows everything, even hidden things that we don’t know about ourselves.

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind…” Jeremiah 17:9-10

God’s Word has a lot to say about things that are hidden and what God does with them:

• ·         “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:14
• ·         "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” –Luke 12:2
• ·         “…wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.” – 1 Corinthians 4:5

That sounds scary, doesn’t it? If we’re honest with ourselves, especially after one of those moments of “oh Lord! My heart is SO corrupt!,” we know that by ourselves we’re bound up in sin and wickedness.

How is that even when we’re trying avoid sin and cautiously following the path of the Lord that our hearts and still stray so far from Him?

We can’t come up with anything truly good by ourselves, or do anything out of pure, selfless, unconditional love…apart from God.  Likewise, we can never grasp the depth of our sins, how egregious our ways are before God, or how corrupt our hearts are.

Don’t be surprised when you discover a sin in your heart that you didn’t select consciously. Don’t be shocked to discover that you’ve hidden your own selfish intentions from yourself. Even moreso –don’t be taken aback when the Lord reveals your hidden faults to you.  

Pray a prayer like David’s. Examine your own heart: what sins have you committed? What have you hidden from others, yourself, and the Lord? Confess and repent. Your hope is in Christ and His mercy, not how effectively you yourself handle the sins you’ve already committed.  

Then, go farther. Ask for the Lord to forgive even the evil in your heart you don’t know about.

Because here’s what happens when you ask the Lord to forgive even your hidden faults:

• ·         You surrender some of the deepest parts of yourself to Him, His mercy, and His good purposes.
• ·         The deep-rooted sins that even you don’t recognize are at work against the Spirit of God. Acknowledge that to live in the Spirit and be free in Christ, you have to rely on Him to do work in you that even you don’t understand.
• ·         You are humbled and cleansed for His glory: “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” –Psalm 19:14
• ·         Instead of worrying about the Lord knowing your faults and you making up for them, you can go boldly and eagerly before Him: Christ has reconciled you to God.

Fix your eyes on Jesus rather than trying to make up for the messes you’ve already made. What He illuminates He also cleanses and handles righteously.