Clean it out

Wow.  I had to take a little break.  I have been working on my closet since 7:30.  Two hours and I am just now seeing progress. 

I believe God speaks to us through many means.  This morning, for me, it was my closet.  You can not believe the things we hold on to.  Why?

I mean really, am I ever going to wear those stone washed jeans from the eighties?  Are those leg warmers going to do me any good in Houston?  Then there are the current purchases.  I packed away eight pair of boots!  The irony of it all is that my closet is no bigger than my half bath downstairs. 

I got to thinking, what do we hold on to in life that overwhelms us?  Every inch of my shelves are packed with...you got it-shoes!  How many shoes can one wear in a lifetime?  Usually, I find myself wearing the same shoes daily and they are either running shoes or my sandals.  Yet I continue to buy shoes I like and put them on my shelf.  I refuse to get rid of them because I might need that color or that style.

We pack our lives with stuff too.  Perhaps someone told us we were unworthy years ago and we feed the lie.  Maybe someone deserted us or betrayed us.  We pack our closets with things that confirm how we feel and then we find it difficult to move on.  As a result, we hold on to that thing and continue to pack it away refusing to let it go.  Perhaps its a vice or a sinful desire.  We hide it in the back of our closet hoping no one discovers we have it. 

It's time to clean our your closet and put away the things that do not glorify God.  In cleaning my closet out, I took a good look at the contents.  Then I pulled things from my hangers and if they were going out, I put them on the floor.  Next...the trash or a donation box.  That's how we begin. 

Examine the things in your life that do not belong.  The things that may be weighing you down.  Next, determine that they don't belong and just get rid of it.  How you might ask.  If it is something that heavy that you don't know where to begin keep this in mind.  There is nothing to big that God can't handle.  It begins with us making the decision to take a good look at ourselves then taking that first step to do it.

I have known that my closet was in need of cleaning.  It is too easy to miss the hamper or stack shoes on the floor or not pull cleaning from the plastic.  I knew if I just made the commitment, I could do it.  The problem was I had no incentive.  Last night when my husband said the exterminator would be coming today....I got that incentive. 

So whatever it takes, make up your mind that you need to clean that closet. My spiritual incentive is that I want to greet Christ with a "clean closet" with nothing hindering my walk with Him. 

Speaking of cleaning it out, I must return to my closet.  As I remove items, I pray that God will also remove things in my life that are not glorifying to him.  I am ready to "clean it out!"

Put to death therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.  But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  Colossians 3:5-10