Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning  Wendy Speake Today’s Truth If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9, ESV). Friend to Friend During the early days of this pandemic, when we were all getting used to being home for long days on end, I saw my friends posting pictures on Facebook of all their cleaned-out closets and organized drawers. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one doing some spring cleaning. But as I cleaned, knowing that the rest of the world was cleaning too, I began to wonder how many people right now might be open to the cleansing work of Christ in their lives. Might this be a season of revival? A spiritual awakening on the global scale? A time of unparalleled confession and unprecedented salvation? The thought moved my heart with such intensity I sat down to write in my prayer journal. These were the words that flowed out instead: The pantry’s been cleaned, twice. The junk drawer, organized. The linen closet looks so good I snapped a picture and sent it to my mother-in-law. The children have even cleaned under their beds. Glory! The boys are now boxing up books they don’t read anymore. My husband is in the garage even as I type this, reorganizing shelves and vacuuming cobwebs. The laundry room is next on my to-do list. Tomorrow. Bags of broken kitchen utensils and pencil stubs have been hauled to the trash. Bins of gently used clothes are ready for the Salvation Army. But today, amidst the cleaning, I’m thinking of a different sort of salvation. Mine. All this time to clean our homes has me contemplating the cleansing work of Christ in our hearts. We’re usually too busy to clean out our closets, too busy for our prayer closets too. But we’re not too busy now. No. We’re not too busy to invite Christ into the closet of our hearts to do His spring Cleaning. His Spring Cleaning has nothing to do with the season of spring, and everything to do with His artisan spring bubbling up in us. Living Water. This isn’t a girl wash your face message, but a Christ wash your heart message. Now is the time for His cleansing work. Spend some of your sequestered days with the Lord. Allow Him into the mud and mire of you hidden places. Junk drawer. He already knows what’s shoved under your metaphorical bed. All the broken pieces of your life that you’ve hoarded away won’t keep Him at bay. Your dirt and your hurt are why He came. Hallelujah! He came to clean you up and transform your heart, so you don’t go back to the same muck you were wallowing in before this pandemic. His cleansing work doesn’t just clean you up… He makes you able to live clean too! Pure. Here in this literal lockdown, let’s get our sin-struggles under lockdown too. We lock it down not with a scrub brush but with our confession of sin and our confession of faith. The cleaning solution you need. Put down the sponge and pick up your Bible. Stop cleaning that closet and invite Him into the closet of your heart and pray: Come on in, Lord Jesus. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness and I will be clean. Amen. If this cleansing work seems crazy to you. Too Christian or too hard. Believe me when I say it isn’t fantastical, but it is fantastic. It isn’t Christian, it is merely Christ — He can do a cleansing work on your sin-stains, it’s not too hard for Him. Believe. Belief is free and freeing. Belief is the solution no store can stock or sell — which means they can’t sell out of it. No need to worry about it disappearing from shelves, Christ doesn’t sell it and you can’t buy it. It’s His blood. What can wash away your sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That’s the spring cleaning we celebrate each spring at Easter time. The Son of God chasing us down in our sin-struggles, sin-soiled and sin-stained. What a mess! But Christ came clean and stayed clean, unsoiled and unstained… so that He could die for the sins we’ve committed. He traded places with us. Took our dirt and the consequences we deserve for getting dirty in the first place. For free! Oh, my friend, scrubbing baseboards and tossing out junk feels good, but this feels better! Let Him do a cleaning work on your heart. For your heart is His home and he wants to clean it up and move in. Yes. He’s doing spring cleaning on His home too. Your heart, His home. No need for social distancing. He’s clean and He’s cleansing. Let Him in. Let Him in. He’s not afraid of your mud, muck, mire, or junk. Let Him in. Let’s Pray Dear Jesus, I can clean my home, but I can’t clean Yours. My heart is Your home. In the quiet of this prayer, let me tell You about my ongoing sin-struggles, and the sin-soil I need You to remove. I confess my sins and confess my faith in You and invite You in to stay. Do Your Spring Cleaning. Make my heart your home. In the powerful Name of Jesus, Amen.