HOUSEKEEPING

There is nothing like a nice clean house!  It smells so fresh and looks so nice and pleasant.  But a house does not clean itself.  If you want a clean house, it takes work to get it clean and more work to keep it that way.  It is a never-ending chore.  When you wake-up the next day I guarantee there will be more work one will have to do to get the house back in order.  More than likely, you will have to repeat some of the work you just did the day before.  To have a really clean house, there will be times you will have to do some deep cleaning.  Surface cleaning will not get the job done.  Sometimes you have to get down on your hands and knees to scrub the baseboards.  The walls at times need some scrubbing and maybe even some new paint.  The carpet will need to be shampooed, and the cupboards need to be cleaned out.  Drawers and closets need to be gone through and set into order.  Windows and window seals need to be washed inside and out.  Yes, there is more to cleaning house than surface cleaning.  I remember watching my mother with an old toothbrush and comet, scrubbing around the base of the toilet near the floor to make sure it was clean and sanitized.  I remember her scrubbing down the trash can and the wall behind it in the kitchen.  Her children have picked up several of her cleaning habits.  Even some of her grandchildren have picked up those cleaning habits.  

The other day Kerrie noticed some strange things on her clothing in the closet.  Wondering what it was, she began to take a closer look.  She discovered she had moths in her closet and they were laying eggs in her clothing.  It was time to clean out the closet!  Those critters can cause a lot of damage if you don't get on it right a way.  Thank goodness they were only in the one closet and nowhere else in the house.  Although we do this every year, this made me understand the concept of Spring Cleaning a lot more. We were really at it to get rid of those critters.  

Our Spiritual House is just like our earthly house!  If we want the LORD to abide within us, then we MUST KEEP IT CLEAN!!!  He loves a fresh smelling place that looks nice and pleasant to dwell in too.  Like our earthly house, our Spiritual House does not clean itself.  We have to keep it clean.  Surface cleaning will not get the job done.  It's going to take hard work to get it clean and keep it that way.  Like our earthly house, we will have to clean our Spiritual House DAILY.  Sometimes we are going to have to get down on our hands and knees and do some scrubbing.  We might have to scrub off the trash of the world that has splattered onto the walls of our soul and into the thoughts of our hearts.  We will have to take that fine tooth brush of prayer and bible reading out and do some scrubbing in the nooks and crannies of our hearts.  You need to make sure there is nothing lurking where it ought not to be.  One has to search the cabinets and drawers of the heart, making sure there is nothing stored in there that shouldn't be there.  Get rid of anger, frustration, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, and anything else that is not of GOD.  We will need to scrub the windows of our soul to make sure we can see clearly.  Clean the carpet of your soul.  Make sure you are still walking on the right path.  Go through your prayer closets!  Make sure you don't have any moths in there laying eggs of doubt, deceit, confusion, depression, oppression, etc, that can bring you down and destroy your Spiritual House. We need to keep our House Clean but it will take work on our part.  Our children and grandchildren are watching us.  What kind of example are we to them.  What kind of a Spiritual HouseKeeper are we teaching them to grow up to be?  

Psalm 51: 2  "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."

Psalm 51:7  "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

Psalms 51:10  " Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."