Mr. Clean……

Don’t you just love Spring? I get a fresh chance to start again. My Spring cleaning happens each year with the finishing up of obligations. Then I can deep clean MY HOUSE that somehow or other has gotten out of control! I mean the dirt and dust that has accumulated over the busy winter months. All of those deep cleaning jobs that I have put off. All of those piles of junk that get moved from one spot to another. Recipes I have torn out to make some day, magazines never read, expired coupons, ideas on how to organize, books I will read some day, etc. I have baseboards that never seem to stay dirt-free, nasty spots on rugs that just won’t go away, clothes to organize, rooms that need some deep cleaning. All of this makes my head spin. I promised myself that I will accomplish all of this in a timely manner.

As I look around my house, this just seems like a task that I will not be able to accomplish in a short time. As I sit here in my mess a thought begins to form. Aha, it’s a jingle. I begin to sing it:

“Mr. Clean…gets rid of grease and grime in just a minute. Mr. Clean can clean your whole house and everything in it…."

He can clean it in just a minute. He can clean anything in it.

Wow, that’s for me….he can clean anything in just a minute? Really! Where is he? I search…not in my house…I go to the store looking for what that jingle promises. I need Mr. Clean NOW to help with all of this. Of course the commercial is false…a lie…I bought and I tried and it just didn’t work. How about you? Have you tried false products that just do not live up to their hype?

In the process of this house cleaning madness HIS SPIRIT begins to form a thought in my mind. What about my “spiritual house”? What in my spiritual house needs the help?

Is it the dust of laziness or indifference that has covered my soul?
The gooey mess of bitterness?

Yes, my spiritual house also needs a “spring cleaning”. I need to go to the Master cleaner of MY SOUL. My spiritual house can become unkempt if I do not get rid of sin that I have allowed to grow unchecked.

I need the help of the Master cleaner to spring clean my soul. To rid my house of the laziness of omitting my quiet time, of getting rid of the lie I tell myself that I will have time after I do……(fill in the blank or blanks). This cover-up produces guilt and changes my relationship with Christ. My tank has not been nourished. I feel like something is missing so I add more to my to-do list to fill the emptiness.

Or the “gooey mess of bitterness” also needs to be cleaned. Just like baked-on spills in the oven or stove top. When left unattended it becomes a hard, burnt-on ugly mess. You can’t cover it up and, when left unattended and the oven is turned up a bad, smell or even smoke is produced. This smell can permeate your house and spread to others.

What good does it do me to have a bright and shiny house when the inside is dull, messy, sticky mess? Spiritual grime may be painful but if it is not removed it erodes the Word of God in my life.

1 John 1:8 – “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

I have lots of cleaning chores to do in my spiritual house but I have only tackled two so far. How about you? What needs cleaning in your house? Where do you need the help of the Masters Hand?

Psalm 51:7 – “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

What a promise!