Saturday, November 13, 2010

So clean house!  Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk (1 Peter 2).

Greetings everyone!  Today our church family will be meeting to do some cleaning in and around our church.  We call it our "All-Church Work Day".  It's going to be a daunting task because there's so much to do.  But we are well-able to accomplish it.  There will be cleaning and vacuuming, painting and repairing going on all at the same time.  I pray that as we come together to clean God's house naturally, He'll begin to clean ours spiritually.

As beautiful as God's sanctuaries are, if they go unkept, that beauty can quickly fade.  Over time, things can just become cluttered and overused.  When they do, we have to take responsibility for its upkeep.  God expects us to be good stewards over what He's entrusted us with.  So we have to remove old things and replace them with new things.  We have to refurbish what has been overused, and we also have to repair what has been broken. 

Likewise, as beautiful as our "temples" are, if they go unkept, they also can fade.  Over time, our lives become cluttered with the cares of life.  Because of that, we become driven by our emotions instead of our faith.  Comfort is achieved by how we feel, not Who we know.  Therefore, our faith becomes dusty, our hope gets broken, and our dreams need to be replaced.  But we can find hope in that fact that God wants to do some 'house' cleaning of His own.  He'll fix brokenness.  He'll replace hopelessness with new visions and dreams, and sweep out idle thoughts and old habits.  So let's clean house.  It's time for a fresh, new way to praise.  It's time for fresh oil and new wine to be poured out in God's house, and in His temples.  Come be a part of this new beginning today.

Prayer:  Father, I open myself to Your cleansing power.  Holy Spirit, shine the light on every dusty area left untended to by my carelessness.  Let the water of Your Word wash over every part.  Revive me and consecrate me anew, so that my praise is fresh and full of sweet-smelling savor like the morning dew.  I'm ready for Your refreshing.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.