He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come..."
Mark 7:20-21 (NIV)
Ever got a lift with a friend, but it was impossible to find your seat in the car amongst all the empty cans, take-away bags, and some papers or files that seemed to have some importance at one stage? Maybe you're already thinking of someone, or you are the guilty one. Either way, that clutter didn't find its place in the car overnight. Most of the time it started with one empty can...
When there wasn't a dustbin insight and the left corner under the passenger's seat seemed like a good alternative; one bottle or can became two and soon the take-away bags found their place on the backseat.
When you become so accustomed to that it, later on, seems normal to get in and out of that environment, without feeling the need to clean up. As if the clutter became part of the interior of the car. When we do an introspection of our own lives, I wonder what clutter have we become accustomed to:
Which bad habits did we initially say we will get rid of, but as soon as we did it once, the second time came so much easier and so much harder to say "No" to.
What lies did we allow to define us or even blind us to the potential that we have?
Which clutter has lowered our standards and made us believe that this is "just the way we are" and that there is no way out?
When all is good and the road of life has no obstacles in the way, we are quick to stand firm in our faith. But as soon as things don't go as we thought they would, we act differently. What we say and do in the valley, doesn't always align with what we believed on the mountain top.
We allow emotions and thoughts to clutter our lives. We give it space in every corner and ponder on thoughts that eventually just take up time. Time - that we could've spent in His word to help us remove the clutter before it turns from just a thought into a bad habit.
Friends, it is in hard and uncertain times where we are faced with tough questions and where we have to work through our emotions. Not allowing our feelings to come in the way of our faith and to see for certain if growth took place throughout the seasons of life.
Maybe it is time to have a proper clean-up. To sit down with the One who knows the interior of your heart and still calls out the potential inside of you. Sometimes we might find it hard to hear Him speak when our lives are piled up with clutter. It has to go friends, it is time to sit down with the One who knows the interior of your heart and still calls out the potential inside of you. Ask Holy Spirit to show you what habits have to go and what lifestyle changes you should make. The time to experience His fullness is now. You have full access, but for you to take hold of His freedom and plan for your life, you have to surrender and let go of the clutter that is withholding you to move forward with Him.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)
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