Weird Wednesday

I've been doing weird things around the house today--cleaning the inside of cabinets, scrubbing the inside of my washing machine, touching up paint in the kitchen, putting handles on a refurbished dresser. These are things that aren't seemingly vital to the working of our household, but for some reason I felt like I needed to do them today.

Honestly, I usually only do the obvious things when cleaning-- laundry, bathtubs, toilets, sinks, dusting surfaces, vacuuming, mopping. I make sure everything is clean and presentable, but I don't go seeking out dirt or extra little jobs that need to be done. I mean, if I can't see the dust on top of the ceiling fan, does it really matter?

As I was scrubbing and looking for the right sized screws, I thought about all the hang ups and dark corners we have in our hearts. When we lie or steal or murder or commit adultery, we know (hopefully) we've messed up. Those are obvious sins, obvious messes. We clean them up by asking forgiveness and doing whatever we have to do try to make things right. What about all those "little" sins that we never even think about asking forgiveness for--hatred toward someone, lust (without action) toward someone, putting things/other people in front of our relationship with God, and many other seemingly small things that other people may not even see or know about. Maybe we don't even know they're sins.

Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." God's Word illuminates our path. It shows us the way to go. In its light, we can see even the darkest corners of our heart and life, the cobwebs we didn't even realize were there. The more we read His Word, the brighter that light shines inside of us and the farther it reaches, because we learn Who He is and what pleases Him, what is sin, and how to praise Him. In the light of His Word, our sin is exposed for what it is. And when we are able to see it and know it for what it is, we can rid our life of it. Then, there is only light!

Scrubbing the inside of a washing machine seems kind of silly (to me), but if we want clean clothes, we should have a clean washing machine. Having no handles on our refurbished dresser hasn't messed up our life (it's been that way for 9 months), but without handles, we haven't been able to use the dresser.

God wants us to to have everything we need in order to function in the kingdom of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that Scripture is designed to make us complete and to fully equip us for the work of God. We need to be clean and we need to be functional in order to do God's work.

My prayer is that through reading His Word, I realize not only the "big" things He wants from me, but all the "small" things as well! Thank You, God, for showing me the Truth through everyday life!