Clean as you Go
“Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and
clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:31, 32 KJV)
The last time we had a hurricane hit where I live, I was not prepared. I had
the things packed that I needed to take with me if I had to evacuate to a
shelter. However, I had not done the dishes and I didn’t have time to do
them before I had to leave for the shelter. I came home to a dirty kitchen.
Now when I cook, I clean as I go.
Even if I am only making pancakes and eggs, as soon as I crack the eggs, I
put them in the garbage and as soon as I measure the pancake mix that I am
going to use, I put the pancake mix away. I don’t have to be concerned
anymore that I might have to evacuate again and come home to a dirty
kitchen.
God has been birthing this devotion in my heart for the last week because
just as I was not prepared for the hurricane that hit us so there are many
times in our lives when our hearts are not prepared for the hurricanes of
life that hit us. We must allow Jesus to clean our hearts on a daily basis.
When someone attacks us and says hateful and cruel words to us, we need to
go to Jesus immediately and ask Him to please take the anger, the bitterness
and the unforgiveness from our hearts. When we allow these rotten attitudes
to remain in our hearts, they not only stink in His nostrils, they also
render us ineffective in our service for Him.
Do you ask Jesus to take the rotten attitudes that bring shame and disgrace
to Him and also hurt Him from your heart every day or have you allowed them
to remain in your heart? How dare we go to a Holy God and ask Him to forgive
us for hurting Him if we are not willing to forgive the ones who hurt us?
May God have mercy on us.
One day every one of us will stand before Him and try to explain to Him why
we didn’t forgive the ones who hurt us. A lot of people will have to hang
their heads in shame because they refused to forgive the ones who hurt them.
I don’t want to be one of those people, do you?
Joanne Lowe
March 10, 2010
joannelowe8@cox.net
www.joanne-ourprecioussaviour.blogspot.com