Having a Clean Sweep

 

    I have spent the last 3 hours or so dusting, vacuuming, disposing of and rearranging my room. It is now clean, organised, fresh and even- I would go so far to say- inspirational.

    Come back in two or three weeks time and I dare say that it will be less clean, less organised, not-so fresh and even- I would hazard a guess- a tad dull. The clear empty spaces will be filled with junk, books, clothes and other assorted artefacts.

   Jesus told a similar story. He spoke about a demon who left a house and went to some desolate places. Upon return, he found the house swept, dusted and ‘put in order’. So what did this demon do? He went and found 7  other demons (worse than himself) and crashed the newly-cleaned house, dwelling there for the foreseeable future. The later state of the house was, in fact, worse than its first state.

   True, isn’t it?

  Whenever we attempt to ‘sort our lives out’ or have a ‘fresh start’ they generally end up worse than before. The New Year is a time when may people set out to ‘begin afresh’ or ‘turn over a new leaf’. With a mind-numbing inevitability the resolutions are in the bin by early February and the cigarettes or chocolates are back on the agenda.

    But Jesus was talking about something much more serious than our diets. He was talking about our souls.

   How often do we try to set our lives towards a more moral and ‘Godly’ direction? How often do we give our minds and hearts a good clean out…?… thus leaving them empty and open to worse things

   Its not a unique thing. The vast majority of characters in the Bible attempted to please God by wooing him with their holiness or with their big sacrifices or their long, repetitive, mystical prayers. But, as a number of them discovered, they couldn’t please God with anything they could do. Why? Because their morals declined rapidly, because their sacrifices and prayers became a drudge and a chore; and because whatever they did, they couldn’t remove their pasts. Ultimately, their newly swept houses filled up with new sins.

     Have you seen a used car showroom recently? It fascinates me to see the cars lined up together on the forecourt (I think its a ‘man thing’). But what I have never quite understood is why some garages display the cars with the rear ends on show, and, specifically, with the boots open.

    I have this picture in my mind of a man examining a car boot with great care and then, without any further inspection, loudly declaring “Its perfect! I’ll take it!”

   Bringing the discussion back, for a moment, to our futile attempts at pleasing a Holy and righteous God with our puny excuses for ‘turning over a new leaf’. Can it be that we, like my imaginary car buyer, have missed the point?

   Attempting to clean out our lives and empty them of wrongdoing (like the house in our earlier story) only makes room for worse things. We are missing the point.

   So, how can we stop the demons returning in full force and moving in to the empty house? (I should probably point out that I am not talking about literal demons occupying us, but the sins and unrighteous things which demons love and God detests).

   There is only one way to keep our hearts and minds and souls pure: the expulsive power of a New Affection!

   We need to fill our hearts with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is so much greater and more wonderful than our old habits, sins, lusts and lies!  With Jesus in residence no demon would dare come near a believer.

   Why is Jesus Christ such a powerful and wonderful ‘affection’?

   Because he is the Son of God, and he, voluntarily, came down to earth and lived a perfect life. But chiefly because he then gave himself up for us. He was crucified- a brutal execution- and shed his blood, to satisfy the punishment required for our sins. Because he died, we can go free; and because he rose from the dead we know that God is pleased with Jesus and with those who have trusted in Jesus Christ!

   So, when are you going to put your house in order?