Cleaning Out
By Sarah Hogue, Director of Children’s Ministry
If you know me, you know I love to travel. I take great delight in planning our family trips (they are NOT vacations!) and choosing a variety of activities that make it enjoyable for everyone! Prior to leaving for a trip, I feel compelled to clean my house. And not just the basic cleaning. When it is time to leave town, suddenly drawers must be organized and papers that have stacked for months must be filed. With the house clean and organized, I will feel less anxious about returning home to disorganization. I am currently in the cleaning and organizing mode, as we are just 10 days from our annual family trip.
In this season, I was prompted to remember some verses about when Jesus will return. Matthew 24:42-44 states, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
When I was younger, we heard this message in Sunday School, and I remember that my friend’s little brother came straight home from church and cleaned his room “in case Jesus came that night.” He was about seven. We thought it was cute and funny that he thought Jesus would be concerned about his room being clean. Yet, here I am, concerned about my house being clean for something much less universe-shaking than the return of Jesus.
In college, I read a book called, “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” It was an analogy about Jesus being invited to live in our hearts and all the rooms he would help us straighten out. It highlights six rooms and the areas Jesus helps us work on within those:
1. The Library is the mind or control center. This is where Jesus wants to help us take our thoughts captive and replace our destructive thoughts with God’s Word.
2. The Dining Room is our appetites. This is where Jesus wants to help us filter out unhealthy desires and focus instead on what will feed our soul.
3. The Living Room is the fellowship. This is where Jesus encourages us to spend daily time with Him - in prayer and reading his Word.
4. The Workroom is our talents and service. This is where Jesus wants to work through us, rather than us serving God on our own power.
5. The Bedroom is our emotions. This is where Jesus helps us to regulate our anxieties and worries and encourages us to lean on His peace.
6. The Closet is where we keep our sins. This is the last place we let Jesus see. We are afraid to let Him in here to see the worst of us. We are encouraged to let Him in, to repent, receive forgiveness, and be set free.
It occurs to me that while I am spending so much time getting my physical house in order, I am not spending nearly enough time getting my heart in order for Christ. While we do not know precisely when Jesus returns, we know that he wants to come and find hearts that have been cleaned and ready for him. So, even as I am scrubbing, organizing, and shuffling to get my house ready for my return from vacation, I’m also using these summer moments to clean the rooms of my heart to be ready for the return of Christ.