I’m a messy person by nature. I don’t like to live in messy environments, but I make a lot of messes. My approach to cleaning is the path of least resistance. If there’s clutter on my desk, I pitch it into a drawer. Out of sight, out of mind. I tell myself that I’ll get to it later. I allow messes to build up in certain areas of the house, in my car, until I can’t take it any longer. Then I go into attack mode. I clean until everything is back in order. And I feel pleased with myself. And then I start making my little messes again.
My wife is my polar opposite. She’s a very neat and tidy person. She is constantly cleaning. When she makes a meal, she starts cleaning the dishes before the meal is done. She is always straightening and organizing.
So we see two approaches to straightening up and cleaning. You can take the Greg approach, which is never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Or you can take the Cathe approach, which is deal with it today and don’t let messes get worse.
We can apply those same approaches to our spiritual lives. Sometimes we allow little problems to develop. Maybe it’s a flirtation with sin. Or a spiritual mess we get ourselves into. Or a compromise we allow. One thing leads to another, and the problem begins to build and build. Suddenly, what started out as a small issue becomes a big problem. Maybe a fascination becomes a habit that turns into a full-blown addiction.
The question is, are we going to let the mess build and build until it starts to overwhelm us before we start to clean it up? Or are we going to attend to each mess immediately and then frequently thereafter, as needed?
You probably won’t be surprised to discover which approach the apostle Paul favored. Look at his words in 2 Corinthians 7:1: “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
That’s a call to immediate action. Paul understood the dangers of letting spiritual messes get bigger.
Maybe you made a commitment to Christ five, ten, or twenty years ago. You cleaned out things in your life, such as bad habits and misplaced priorities that displeased God. You dealt with your personal messes in your pursuit of becoming a hardcore Christian.
Since then, maybe you’ve relaxed your vigilant life-cleaning. You’ve let a few messes start to accumulate. You can’t quite work up the motivation to tackle them.
This is your call to action. It starts with a simple prayer: “Lord, I need another cleaning. I’ve let things go, and I need your help.” And then? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
