Putting the junk back

Have you noticed I've been particularly quiet this week?  That never happens, especially not for a whole week!  It's true.  Just ask my mom or my sister!  In fact, you won't have to.  I'm sure one of them will chime in here.

I wrote my post on Monday about Bugsy's adventure with Stepping Stones Together and then I stood up from my chair and started cleaning.  You see, I decided over the weekend that I want to turn the garage into an exercise room which will house the equipment I don't own.  When I get in the "mood," I get going and can't stop! 

So, Monday while the kids were napping and I would normally have been posting, I was rearranging the kitchen.  We've had a computer on a little desk between the kitchen and livingroom for a few months.  It was supposed to be for the kids to use, but unfortunately it no longer turns on.  I really want them to have a usable space where they can play computer games and get on select websites and such, but for now we just don't have it.  What we did have was a desk with a mammoth computer that served as a giant eyesore in the middle of not one but two rooms!  I spent my naptime cleaning and rearranging the kitchen, then, into a configuration I still don't like, but it's a little less annoying, I suppose.

And that led to Tuesday, when I spent my naptime working on the kitchen counters and cabinets...which led to laundry...which led to...well, you get the picture!

The trouble is, when I clean I think.  I guess that's not trouble, per se, it's just what happens.  I've had a lot of time to think this week!  You know what I've been thinking about?  Cleaning.  Boring?  Maybe, maybe not.  Could I write a sermon about it?  Probably.  Instead, since you're here, I'll just tell you about it.

You see, I was moving furniture.  Do you know what's under furniture?  Well, at my house (6 little kids deep!), there's dust under the furniture.  And Cheerios.  Puzzle pieces.  String.  Teething toys.  Socks, even!  So, of course, as I was cleaning and rearranging, I had the daunting task of not only moving the furniture, but trying to remember exactly where under the furniture each sock, puzzle piece, and Cheerio belonged so I could put them back!

WHAT?!? 

You don't put the "junk" back when you move the furniture?

Okay, I don't either.  But that's exactly the point!  When I clean and rearrange my house, I don't put the junk back where it was.  I pick it up!  I put it where it belongs, and if it no longer belongs anywhere, I get rid of it!  It would be ridiculous for me to keep it, or at least to keep it where it doesn't belong!  I think we all agree on that.

So why is it, then, that we do that with our lives? 

We make "changes."  They can be anything.  Maybe we start a new diet, but we keep the cookies, we just tuck them back behind the celery sticks instead of leaving them right there on the counter.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?  Or maybe we decide we need to change our attitudes, but JUST at home.  They can stay nasty at work, but at home, things need to be different.  So we keep the junk, we just move it over there. 

MAYBE we even do it with God.  Not you of course.  Or me.  But THEY do it.  No.  No, I contend we all do it, at least to an extent.  I hope I'm wrong.  I hope it's just me and that the rest of you "have it all together."  But just in case, do these sound familiar?

"I know I shouldn't be watching these movies, so I'll move them to the closet in my bedroom.  That way the kids won't find them."  (For the record, this happened to all of our "R" rated movies for a while.  They're gone now.  Permissible, but not beneficial.)

"I know I should be praying before I eat lunch,  and I will...when I'm at home.  I don't want my co-workers to think I'm weird.  They wouldn't get it."

"It'll be okay if I keep smoking, but only outside or in my car.  That way I won't be bothering anyone else."

"I'll study my Bible when I find a good study that fits with my lifestyle and doesn't take too much time.  I'm too busy with all the other 'stuff' in my life right now."

I'm sure there's something there that rings a bell.  Or if there isn't, there's something else similar.  For some reason we have this idea that we can rearrange and "make room" for Christ but in the process we take all our "junk" with us!  Do you know what the Bible says?

2 Corinthians 2:17 - "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Did you catch that?  When you give your life over to Christ, you're a whole new person!  It's like a "free" pass to the garbage dump!  Take all your junk, box it up, and throw it away!  You don't need it anymore.  You don't have to take it with you!  In fact, if you are going to fully surrender to Christ, you can't take it with you!  The old has gone!  Hooray!  Thank you, Jesus, for taking away my junk!  Help me to keep it away!  I don't need it anymore!

(So that's why I've been quiet.  I've been thinking about my junk.  There's a lot of it.  I've got a big box.  I'm loading it up.  Again.  And I'm giving it to Him.  He said he'll take it to the dump FOR me!)