Cleaning

¹I think that all of us have different approaches to cleaning our homes depending on the circumstances. There's the panicked, mad scramble to shove everything into drawers or closets because guests are arriving sooner than expected. There's the surface level tidying up, where everything is placed in its proper place. There's the deep cleaning of sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dusting and wiping down all surfaces. And then there's scouring, where every stubborn stain is scrubbed within an inch of its life. It should come as no surprise that many of us have a similar variety of approaches when it comes to repentance and cleaning our souls. When we try to repent because we fear that we are about to be caught or some important deadline or milestone is approaching, sometimes that looks like hastily shoving everything into a closet and hoping that if, deep down, everything is not clean, at least we may give the appearance of being clean. And then sometimes, maybe all we really need to do is tidy things up and we have no real need for deep cleaning or scouring, or, at least, we think we don't. But the thing is, we can't trick God and we won't forever be able to fool ourselves. If we continue to focus only on surface level tidying when there are deeper issues that need to be scrubbed and cleansed, eventually the spiritual equivalent of black mold or bad odors is going to make our lives a living hell. The good news is that we don't have to do all of this deep cleaning and scouring on our own. Indeed, we could scrub at our stains until our fingers bleed but we won't be able to get them out by ourselves. If we invite Christ in to help do the deep cleaning we do desperately need, parts of that process will be hard and unpleasant. It may take weeks or months or even years to get out every last speck of dirt and grime, but how much better will we feel when our souls are sparkling and we would not feel ashamed or embarrassed if God Himself came to dwell inside? I know that tidying has its place and we don't always need to deep clean or scour, but I hope that when we do need to dig a little deeper and do some real scouring, we will let Christ help us and then humbly and determinedly submit to His instructions and clean our souls in His way.