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Lessons From A Clean Room
I recently went through the long process of cleaning and organizing Sterling’s room, with a lot of help from him. After all, he’s 14 now. It was high time for us to get rid of old toys, clothes that don’t fit him anymore, etc., etc. Everybody has gone through this sort of “big clean” at some point. Packing up the nursery, clearing out the garage, turning a former bedroom into a gym or something along those lines. But as we were working on this project together, a few spiritual lessons came to mind.
Some Jobs Need The Father’s Help
With all due respect to him, Sterling could not have done this job alone. Hard decisions needed to be made about what to keep and what to discard. Plus, organization isn’t everybody’s strong suit (that’s not a knock on him, since I don’t know very many teenagers who are naturally gifted at tidiness).
Similarly, the Bible teaches us that reliance on our heavenly Father is the path to spiritual success and salvation. Psalm 23, for example, notes how it is the Lord, the Great Shepherd, who leads us, protects us, and prepares for us a table before our enemies.
Many other scriptures note how God is our strength, our rock, our tower, and our dread champion (Psalm 18:2, 28:7-8, Jeremiah 20:11). Truly, without God’s help, we would be overwhelmed by the challenges of this life (Psalm 69:1-3).
When You Clean Out The Sin, Clean It Completely
Big jobs require commitment. When you’re only halfway done, or you reach a tolerable stopping point, you might be tempted to give up and say, “Well, that’s good enough!” But is that true of sin? Temptations? Lust?
Paul talked about sinful influences like leaven in a lump of dough in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7. Even a little of it can impact the whole lump! Of a long list of sins in Colossians 3:5-10, Paul said “put them ALL aside” and consider “your earthly bodies as DEAD” to them.
Share Your Victories
We were both very proud of the work we put in! Sterling has a clean, newly arranged room that is very fitting for a guy his age. After the job was done, we both were excited to show it off to the rest of the family. In the same way, there is something to be said of sharing our victory in Christ with others. Our faith is joyful, so don’t hide it (Matthew 5:14-16).
