Cleanliness is next to Godliness. As much as you might think, this statement is not in the Bible. You may have already known this to be true but I write this to simply make sure all the messy people out there (including me!) are off the hook. Well, not exactly, but what does it matter? Quite a bit. We actually get the quote from John Wesley from a sermon of his. So there’s truth to the statement about being clean and honoring God through that. So being aware of the mess in our lives is important. It does matter.

I was recently part of a cleaning effort in our church. It’s amazing how much “stuff” (I’ll be nice and not call it Jesus Junk ‘cause Jesus don’t make no junk right?) I digress. Lots of items were tossed into a huge dumpster that would be hauled off to the place where they put the holy trash. Hold on. Church trash is just like everyone else’s. Ok so not so holy. Looking into every nook and cranny, we dispersed of old furniture, filing boxes, plants that had seen their better day, and lots and lots of “why are we hangin’ on to that” type of stuff.

It reminded me of the cleaning we all must do in our lives to remain clean. It’s not what on the outside that makes a person unclean. In fact, Jesus himself pointed out to the religious leaders of his day (think preachers, pastors, Bible study teachers, etc) that what makes a person unclean comes from the heart. (Full disclosure: I’m a pastor) It is decidedly a spiritual matter. (Matthew 23:25-26) Let me be clear, there is nothing that we can do on our own to make our heart “clean” spiritually before a holy God. Christ alone can do this. But I do think of Paul’s challenge to the church to “rid ourselves of such things as these” of which he included anger, rage, malice, and so on. (Colossians 3:8).

My point is simple. God has reminded me that Christ has purified my heart, but there are always areas that I need to clean up. But cleaning needs to be done on a regular basis. When we don’t clean, the junk just piles up. Don’t let the junk pile up. I’m reminded of the verse in James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Like the sign on the truck, “Got Junk”? We need to say Yes! And then confess to God our need for Christ, and seek to be lovingly held accountable by close friends so that healing will begin!