Today, my baby boy wanted to look out the front window at the street outside. So I opened the blinds so that he could. Then as I looked closely, I realized the tracks of the window were quite dirty, as were the blinds. Now, I keep a fairly tidy home- especially when you consider that I have five children. However, I don't always keep up on the areas that stay hidden from view, or that don't need to be done daily or weekly. So, I had no idea the state of my blinds and window tracks. I'm sure I'm not the only one that forgets to look at these things, so I'm not going to beat myself up about it. However, as I began cleaning these (I could NOT leave them like that) I was struck with a parallel for my spiritual life. I thought I would share with you, with the prayer that it might be of some help or use to you as well.
As I was cleaning, it became clear to me that by ignoring these seemingly inconsequential tasks, I had created a task much too big to be completed in one day, and maybe even too big to do by myself. I was going to need some help. This is much the way we are before we begin to rely on God to change us. Now I'm not saying we can't strive to better ourselves and our behavior, but apart from God we cannot be good enough. We can never be clean enough on our own merits.
As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;" Romans 3:10
Not only is this the case before we begin to rely on God and call Christ our Savior and Lord, but it is also true
after we claim the promise of the cross. Many times, we go about our daily lives, and we let the "little" things in our spiritual lives get ignored. We let our prayer time become less and less; we read our Bible only once a day, if at all; and we isolate ourselves from fellowship with other believers. These are just a few ways that I have noticed that
I have ignored my spiritual life on occasion. I'd like to pretend that I'm always on top of it; but like the state of my house, it's only clean if you don't look too closely. But unlike the state of my house, I
always need the help of the Lord to clean it up my spiritual state. He continues to change me day by day, but only as long as I let Him do it. I need not feel overwhelmed by all that needs to be done in me. God will do it. But I do need to remain ever vigilant and aware of when I begin to drift away. If I do not remain aware, there will always be consequences and a much bigger mess to clean. I'd much rather clean a small mess than a big one, wouldn't you?
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Today I pray for vigilance. Amen!
