Move the Couch and Deal With It

I have a group of ladies coming over for my Java at the Jooses get together tomorrow. It's a wonderful and relaxing time of fellowship, getting to know each other, and a time in God's Word together. I'm cleaning house today. There's a "cleaning of the house" that you probably do on a weekly basis (or at least we try, right?), and then there's a Cleaning The House that we do when ladies are coming over. It's not like my HBC ladies get on their hands and knees or put on their white gloves to check and see how I'm doing in the House Cleaning Department, but I just like to do a more thorough cleaning when they come.

One thing that I did this morning that I obviously hadn't done in a while, was vacuum underneath the couches. It's that hard-to-get area that requires more effort on my part to get to, so it doesn't get done often. But I know it is there. Waiting. Now my house gets dirty just like the rest of yours, but it can have the appearance of cleanliness, especially if I've hit all of my clutter. Just don't go poking about and actually looking for dirt because you just might find it. Sooo, today the couches got moved, I worked up a sweat, and it got vacuumed. It needed it. It was gross. Think: bugs, dust, marbles, Legos, paper, lint, strings, thread, small Playmobil parts, and even potting soil (how did that escape me?)! I was mortified that this had been lurking mere inches from my comfy cozy chair where I do my devotions every day. I couldn't see it, but it was definitely there.

And then it struck me. Many times we as Christians deal with problems in this very way. In my minimal years of experience (almost 13 years of full time ministry), I see this so often. Too often. There's conflict. Maybe there is a huge blow up (Mt. Vesuvius, maybe?), and then an Ice Age of silence. Or maybe there is a low & quiet seething coupled with surface-y friendliness until the heat dies down, and you just "forget it" (but not really). Guess what? It's all lurking there. It's in your comfy cozy chair where you spend time with the Lord. It's in your pew where you supposedly worship the Lord every time the church doors are opened. It's there beside you when you bow your head to pray. It's waiting for you to move the proverbial couch and clean it out. And we wonder why we have no spiritual victory?

It haunts you. It waits. And then something happens again. Feelings get hurt again and then the dirt is exposed. You see it, and everything (in HD detail) is brought back to your mind. It would be as if I had moved the couch, looked at all of the garbage there and just shrugged my shoulders (after all, vacuuming IS hard work, right?), and moved the couches back to where they were. That would be ridiculous, right? You're right. It is. We have to deal with it.

Just like my house might have a resemblance to cleanliness, I (you) might have an appearance of godliness or spirituality, and yet the sin is there all the time. Ladies, it's time to move the couches (i.e. prIde), confess this sin to the Lord with a heart of humility & true repentance, and then go to that brother or sister and tell them that you were wrong in having a spirit of unforgiveness. Wrong in being bitter toward them. Wrong in not glorifying God in your relationship with a fellow believer. Don't tell them that they hurt your feelings. Don't tell them how they wronged you. It could be that maybe, just maybe, it's your feelings that are wrong. You will not answer to God for your friend. You answer for you. You worry about YOU. I don't know about you, but I've got my hands full just taking care of me, my sinfulness, and my walk with the Lord.

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matt. 7:3-5)

"Put on then, as God's chosen one, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." Col. 3:12-15

I pray that you will take some time with the Lord today and ask for forgiveness from the Lord for your sinful spirit with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and then immediately call, email, text, FB your friend and set up a time to make things right. Face to face.

Only then will your heart be really clean.