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

womenwalkingwisely.com

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.

Brokenness in the Body of Christ

ecaston.blogspot.com

Last week I fell victim to one of the main work hazards of being a writer. I was engrossed in my writing when suddenly the battery signal flashed. Desperate to save my work, I leapt up to grab my computer cord. I promptly discovered that my leg was asleep, crashing to the ground and injuring my foot and ankle in the process.

A trip to the ER, two crutches, and warnings that I won’t be walking normally for a couple of weeks later…

Don’t worry! My work got saved.

However, the ordeal and the ensuing adventure of hobbling around on one foot have got me thinking about what it means to have brokenness in the body of Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12: 21-27, we read:

“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.

But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

We often discuss the body of Christ in terms of unity, of working together to achieve more, and of being inclusive.

But what happens when a part of the body is injured, suffering, or broken?

I can think of few things:

• ·         You experience pain
• ·         You have greater difficulty doing everyday things normally, or as you have usually done them
• ·         Your other muscles must compensate to keep up
• ·         You must be careful not to overwork other parts of the body to the point of injury
• ·         You have to rest the injured part and follow instructions for healing
• ·         You are reminded of just how indispensable that damaged body part is!

Think about how easily these “consequences” of brokenness in the body might apply to the body of Christ.

When someone in the body of Christ is suffering, we are to share in the suffering, not cut each other off or ignore one another until all is well again (Romans 12:15). As the passage in 1 Corinthians states, members of the body are to have concern for each other and to treat even the weaker parts of the body honorably and equally.

At the same time, we aren’t to push the weak or injured members of the body, but to deal graciously, gently, and patiently (Ephesians 4:2). All the while, we’re to watch that we don’t fall as the injured part has (Galatians 6:1, 1 Corinthians 10:12).

In all of these instructions, it seems that one theme is clear and must be kept in mind: brokenness matters because the body is knit together, unified, in Christ.

When you and I are broken, we are no less a part of His body and no more dispensable. Our value isn’t in our strength, our ability to perform, or ability to fit in tidily and make everyone else’s jobs easier.

Our Lord has a long history of cherishing, using, and repairing brokenness by:

• ·         Leading broken men and women, like Hannah, Job, Jacob, Ruth, or Joseph to glorify God
• ·         Justifying all of us by the broken body of Jesus Christ
• ·         Healing and making well the broken-hearted and broken-bodied
• ·         Sufficiently working through us and on our behalf, despite our weakness and brokenness
• ·         Using the foolish things of the world to shame the wise

Injury, suffering, weakness, and most of the things that cripple us are challenging. Whether you’re experiencing physical, relational, emotional, or spiritual anguish, it matters to the Lord and it doesn’t count against you in His economy.

“However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). 

Your work, inability to work, or lack of being able to work as you usually can and do have no bearing on your position before God as a part of His body.

Take heart, you suffering! Today you may be or feel like a broken part of the body of Christ. But remember that one who…

·         Rose from the dead

·         Gives us new life

·         Created our bodies

·         Will provide us with heavenly bodies

·         Healed the crippled and raised the dead

·         Teaches us to care for our bodies

…That Jesus is the same Christ whose body we are a part of!

What assurance we have in Him, and what conviction to treat each other accordingly.