It’s a new year and this year as I packed up my Christmas decorations, I entered into purging mode. My house is still in somewhat of a disarray as I have been going through every room and pulling out the stuff we just don’t use anymore; the excess and clutter. The one room that is the worst is my art studio. Ya’ll, it is so bad. It’s the room that ‘collects’ things, you know what I’m talking about? Like everything. If something doesn’t have a place…art studio it is. Plus, I never ended up actually unpacking that room when we moved in a year and a half ago.

I know, classy huh? The thing is, I’m a creative, and well…I’m not really great at organization. Or putting things back. And although I work very hard at keeping my house clean downstairs…my upstairs is another story. Since my studio is a room where no one but me ever goes into, you can only imagine how motivated I am to organize it. So, I’ve been working hard to clean, purge, and get that room orderly. It’s going to be so lovely, I know it. But in this phase, it’s just hard work.

 

What prompted all of this, was that my family has been cleaning and clearing out my grandmother’s estate. We lost her in October and it has taken months to go through everything. It’s quite a process, since my sweet grandma was a collector of many things! MANY things.  And, I know I inherited my somewhat ‘messy’ creative ways from her. So cleaning the house has been a huge job, a difficult job, and a frustrating job.
Cleaning up a mess always is.
Cleaning up someone else’s mess is even more so.
Even when you love that person.

All this cleaning has made me think about how our hearts can be “messy”. They can become cluttered with things like discontentment, undiscipline, pride, or fear. God has promised to clean our messy hearts for us, since we just can’t do it ourselves.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just

and will forgive us our sins

and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 ESV {emphasis mine}

I realized something about how I often view this cleansing from him. I assume he feels like I do about cleaning up someone else’s big mess. I assume he looks at my messy cluttered heart, and sighs. That he is annoyed at the fact that he has to clean it up, again. And so I catch myself trying to clean it up on my own. Like maybe if I take care of some of the clutter it’ll make the job not as frustrating?

He gently showed me I couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I feel frustration and annoyance at cleaning someone else’s mess because I am human.

But God’s not human.

We were made in his image, he is not a reflection of ours.

I sometimes make the mistake of ascribing human characteristics to him.  But he does not reflect our humanness.

He is so much more. He is patient and merciful. He is everlasting in his love. He sanctifies us because that’s just what his holy goodness does. He loves us, sees what our hearts will look like, and is not disturbed by our mess.

Jesus showed us this side of God’s character when he had no problem touching lepers, or dining with society’s outcasts, or being born in a dirty stable rather than a palace. He came and walked with the messy, and he showed no contempt for it. Instead he cleansed it.

Today, if you find your heart has become cluttered and maybe a bit messy like mine, let’s invite him in to clean and purge. Trust that he is not annoyed, that he loves the invitation and has big plans to make it lovely again.

-Kallie