What kind of things contaminate your body and spirit? What kind of trash are you allowing to take up residence in your life? I have recently noticed how something that truly offends God has slowly crept into a television program that I enjoy. At first, I noticed and was a bit angry--why do they have to ruin a good story with junk? Then it didn't come into the story line again and I got comfortable. When it popped up again I thought, "are they really going to do this?" I had continued watching the show because it had a lot of good in it and wasn't filled with all the other stuff that normally has me turning a show off. Before long I realized it was a regular part of the story line and I was becoming desensitized to it. It became as if I weren't even aware when that particular topic came up. Can you relate? It may not be a television show for you. It might be a particular friend you spend a lot of time with. It may be the conversation in the break room at work. It might be words, thoughts and attitudes, even jokes you've allowed into your daily life.
So what are we going to do about it? Do we want our lives to look like this picture? I encourage you to look up this verse in the Bible, then see what it's been talking about just prior (it really begins in chapter 6). Part of what it talks about is us, as believers, being a temple of the living God.
When I look at this picture and imagine inviting the God of the universe to come live here with me I think "no way!" There is no way I want to live in this environment much less invite anyone else to live with me. Yet, that's what I do when I allow the junk of life to invade my space.
I can start simple. I will start in one room of the house of my life and do a deep clean. I will look under beds (examine my thoughts as I walk through my day). I will declutter closets (get rid of the baggage my mind insists on carrying around--old hurts, shame, bitterness). As I finish cleaning the house of my life from the junk I've allowed in I know I will have to start over because I live in a junk-filled world. Just as in the physical I consume and toss the trash that's what I have to do in my thoughts and attitudes. I don't want all that garbage just being dumped inside my head without a regular "taking out" of the trash.
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