Spring Cleaning the Family

Our baby dressed up for "Detective Night" at church.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" Psalm 139:23-24

Spring cleaning the house has taken a backseat for a while so we could set aside a few weeks to spring clean our lives and our family.  Everybody needs a little cleansing, renewal, and reminder of who we are in Christ from time to time.

We've spent the last 11 days in the church pew addressing all areas of our lives:

-Weeding out sin and getting rid of unforgiveness before it takes root and becomes bitterness.

-Examining areas of our personal life that are not pleasing to God and making a plan to eliminate those things from our lives.

-Reconciling with those who we have sinned against.

-Forgiving those who have sinned against us.

-Being reminded of our God given responsibilities as wives/husbands, parents, children, members of the body of Christ, and searching God's Word to see what He has to say about these roles.

- Being reminded to remain in a state of humility crying out, "God I need you!" and allowing God to give us his abundant grace in those times of need.

-Strengthening our marriage

And much, much more!!

We all need constant reminding of God's word, and it's important to make corrections frequently. Unfortunately, we're an awful lot like the Israelites of the old testament, seeking after everything and everyone but God. We have a tendency to let the little things slide in our lives thinking that it's not a big deal. 

Sometimes we get off course by only one tiny degree on our compass and we don't do anything about it because it's such a tiny amount and we are still right next to the path.  But the longer we walk that way, the further off the path we get until that one degree has taken us so far off course that we can no longer see the path any more.

That's why it's important to do these little checks of our life frequently. The more often we go to the foot of the cross, the easier it is to follow the narrow way.

So while you're all washing your windows and scrubbing your baseboards in the next few weeks, don't forget to examine your lives and your heart as well.  It's more important to have a clean heart than a clean house!