Resources/Articles
Clean Out The Cabinets
Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart.
Psalm 73:1
Spring is not too far away. It is usually the time most people will clean out the clutter that has accumulated within the last year or years. You may have already started your “spring cleaning”. Most people will just tell themselves or mention to someone else, “I need to clean out my cabinets...closet… garage…etc.” We especially think about this when we open the pantry door and something falls out. Having the corning ware dish, can of beans, or Tupperware bowl fall on your head is not a very good way to start the day.
We tell ourselves what we need to do is get organized. It is time to coordinate, classify, arrange, or sort through our cabinets. This may mean throwing some things away or give them to someone else who would use it more often than we would.
We should consider doing the same thing when wrong, sinful ideas flood our head. The Pharisees had overstuffed their heads with hypocrisy. They looked good, but inwardly were rotten and ugly. Jesus rebuked them saying, “Cleanse first the inside of the cup and platter” (Matthew 23:26). Heads filled with attitudes like the Pharisees need renewal, organization, classification, and arrangement. We need to seek God for His help to pitch out gossip, faultfinding, criticism, indifference, haughty spirit, bitterness, and malice. Such a mind is of the flesh and is “enmity against God” (Romans 8:7).
We need to clear our minds not by conforming to the world, but through a transformation from what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). Every day would mean more if we had an organized, sorted, and well-arranged “mind of the Spirit”, which is “life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Let the word of God with its active power open up the door to what is in your mind (Hebrews 4:12,13). Clear your head of what crowds God out. Arrange in your mind the things that are lovely, pure, honorable, true, just, and of good report (Philippians 4:8). That way the next time you open your mouth, you will not be embarrassed by what falls out (Ephesians 4:29)
