Spiritual Cleanup

With the recent warm spell melting the snow in my yard, I find myself looking out at a mess of leaves, twigs, mud, and, being a dog owner... I have a choice at this point. I can either clean it up or just leave it and hope that strong winds will do all the cleaning for me. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen, so if I do not wish to inhibit the growth of my lawn and other plants, I'll have to clean things up.

In a sense, that is one of the reasons for the 40 days of Lent -- a time to do some spiritual cleanup, beginning with repentance which not only notices the sin but wants to permanently get rid of it so one can enjoy life as God intends us to enjoy it.

That, after all, is why Jesus came to be our Savior. God wants us to enjoy life, and that will only happen in a restored relationship with Him. We, after all, can not clean ourselves up to make us totally presentable before Holy God. Like my yard, the more I clean up, the more problem areas I uncover. It's a never ending process. But when God forgives our sins for Christ's sake, we are truly cleansed of the guilt of that sin. What is more, the Holy Spirit works in us the desire and ability to follow Jesus and emulate Him, always seeking to know and do the Lord's will.

Oh, and one more thing using the yard cleanup analogy. Imagine if instead of cleaning up my yard I instead spent my efforts on cleaning up my neighbor's yard while leaving mine untouched. That wouldn't make sense would it? And so, when it comes to spiritual cleanup, we concentrate on ourselves, asking that the Holy Spirit would work in us personally that we might bloom where we are planted.