Happy Wednesday (08/01/2012) (Discard)

Hi All, 

I've been doing a lot of house cleaning recently and find that I've developed a bit of a pattern in my approach to things. The very first step is to throw everything onto the floor and pick through all the stuff that was hidden away in a closet or a box. I've learnt to be brutal and merciless in throwing things away. If it doesn't have deep sentimental meaning, if I will never use it ever again, if it is easily/cheaply replaceable,  out it goes. Interestingly, this discarding process is usually the most time consuming part; the actual sorting, repacking and cleaning is, in general,  quickly done. In fact, I might argue that throwing things out is the most important part of cleaning up as up to half the clutter are gone simply by throwing away what I do not need or desire anymore. 

In the parable of the unclean spirit's return (Matthew 12:45-46), the focus is usually on how a heart that is emptied of sin needs to be filled with Christ, yet so often we forget the emptied/cleaned part and try to fill our hearts with God without FIRST having emptied it. We have no room in our hearts for Christ if it is filled with clutter, and I take my once messy room as a personal parable of this truth. Without bringing to light all my old habits, selfishness, sins, habits, and ambitions; without examining all of these things and deciding if they are worth keeping around; without making room by mentally deciding to get rid of unnecessary things; God has no place in me. There needs to be this mental sorting, prioritizing, and discarding for us to truly choose Christ. He would not fit in all the clutter otherwise. 

Have a Happy Wednesday,

Edward

"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation." (Matthew 12:43-45 ESV)

Michael Jackson vs James Brown in Whose Line

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pGo3aVQV0&feature=youtube_gdata_player