No matter how hard we try, it still happens. Clutter. Clutter in our homes. Clutter in our cars. Clutter in attics, garages, and even refrigerators. Clutter where does it come from and how did it accumulate to such proportions?
The Learning Annex, a chain of adult education schools, reports more than 200,000 people completed its popular class on controlling household clutter. Who are these people?
Well, they are those who keep empty jars, appliance manuals, even though they no longer have the appliance, buttons of every kind and condition, magazines they intend to read one day, keys they no longer remember what they lock or unlock, clothes they have outgrown but save just in case they can wear them again one day. You get the picture don’t you?
Clutter occupies space, saps energy, creates frustration, causes anxiety and depression, harbors insects and rodents, and continues to accumulate thus creating more of the aforementioned problems.
Spiritual clutter is much the same. It occupies space in our thoughts and emotions. It saps spiritual energy and motivation, it frustrates our desires to worship and serve God, it allows the rodents and roaches of sin to harbor within us, it creates anxiety, fear, and depression. And left untreated, spiritual clutter accumulates more thereby creating more of the above spiritual problems.
Some spiritual clutter you may need to throw out is:
- Unresolved conflict with people outside the church – Matthew 5:25 “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.” Resolve the conflict before it gets worse. This principle does not only apply to matters of law and court.
- Unresolved conflict with church family members – Matthew 5:23 “If you are presenting your offering at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar…first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” Seek reconciliation first with your spiritual family then seek reconciliation from God.
- Un-confessed sin – 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just too forgive us our sins.” If you are in Christ through faith, repentance, and immersion, then when you sin as a disciple seek forgiveness through prayers of humble confession.
- Not forgiving yourself after receiving God’s forgiveness – Hebrews 7:25. “…He [Jesus] is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Don’t set your standards of forgiveness higher than God’s standards. If God in Christ forgives you, receive and accept His grace and forgiveness.
- Stress, worry, fear, and anxiety – Psalm 121:1-8 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” In times of stress, worry, fear, and anxiety, do not focus upon yourself for help, cry to the Lord for help. Seek from Him the mental resolve and spiritual faith to trust Him and then do the things you fear. He will help you conquer your fears, worries, and anxieties. With God’s help, prayer and action together will conquer fears and anxieties.
Is your spiritual clutter weighting you down? Is your spiritual clutter choking out your faith, worship, and living for God? Then search the closets of your heart and clean out the clutter.-Tom Davis