By Coretta Gomes
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” II Corinthians 7:1.
Spring is in the air! Such a beautiful time of the year. I love to see the beautiful, blooming flowers all at once and experience God’s wonderful handy work. Growing up as a missionary kid in Brazil, I did not get the full effect of spring. In Brazil, trees bloom randomly all year round so it is not as noticeable, unlike here where they bloom all at the same time and you can enjoy the beautiful variety of colors!
Spring cleaning was a novelty to me when I came back as a teenager. Ladies talked about cleaning their homes from top to bottom and how they loved that everything was so clean and organized. On the mission field, we cleaned everything all the time
from top to bottom as windows were always left open due to no AC and dust was everywhere. The city of Passos, where I was raised, had the added black ashes of burnt sugar cane fields for the purpose of harvesting. So, we spring cleaned every
week year-round! Washing down the bathrooms, garage and walkway all around the house with soap and water from top to bottom (as everything was tile) and dusting the entire three rows of bookshelves my dad had.
Waiting till spring to declutter was new to me as well. Decluttering was done as we cleaned throughout the year. I guess what I am saying is that we cleaned and decluttered year-round from top to bottom. Nothing was left for later!
Our spiritual life should be the same way. Cleaning our hearts from sin and decluttering those things from our lives that drag us down spiritually should be a daily affair.
I have found that many Christians “spring clean” their spiritual lives! They allow sin to build up in their lives until everything starts crumbling down around them. Then they turn to Jesus to ask for forgiveness and expect God to clean up the mess they have allowed.
Instead, we should constantly be cleaning up our hearts and minds, not waiting until we can hit the altar at church or get counseling. We must confess our sins right away as the Word of God reveals them to us and when we know that we have committed them. “…Cleanse thou me from secret faults,” Psalm 19:12b. We should be reading and praying daily to keep ourselves clean.
“But his delight is in the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night,” Psalm 1:2. We cannot expect to read our Bibles and pray once a week and have wisdom from the Lord enough to discern right from wrong and stay clean from this world and raise our kids in the admonition of the Lord. Spiritual spring cleaning must be a constant, consistent, daily event. “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths,” Psalm 25:4. Don’t wait until spring to clean and declutter your spiritual life. Make it a daily routine