When I got up this morning and walked into my kitchen I was greeted by a sink full of dirty dishes and 3 days of accumulated countertop clutter.
I used to also feel like this about my spiritual life. When the Holy Spirit began to convict me of sin and began to work on what the Bible refers to as my “inner man”— my thoughts, my emotions, my understanding and my character— there would be times when I felt like there was no way God could fix all the things in me that needed to be fixed (2 Cor 4:16; Eph 3:16). But what I found out was that God works within us much in the same way that I work when faced with a colossal mess in my kitchen sink— I start with one dish, clean it, rinse it, and move on to the next one. Over and over, I pick up something that needs to be washed and cleaned, I wash it and clean it, and then I move on to the next one. It is tedious work and it takes patience, perseverance, and commitment. And this is how the Holy Spirit works in each one of us, until eventually everything is washed and put in its proper place.
The first picture is of my colossal mess. The second picture is what that same area looks like after it’s been cleaned. But the third picture is all the things I moved out of the way to make the second picture look good. This too, is how we often are when God is doing His work in us. We show people the parts that have been cleaned, but off to the side is all the hidden stuff that is yet to be done. That is why we must be careful not to judge by appearances. We often times judge people by the size of their mess or by the clean parts we can see, but what we must understand is that it’s neither the size of the person’s mess nor how much has been cleaned, but their willingness to yield to the ongoing work that is being done. What matters is that the person is perpetually and increasingly yielding to the Spirit of God Who is at work within them.
Beloved, God is in the business of cleaning up His children’s mess, and that is often an ongoing, tedious work of His Holy Spirit. May we be gracious to each other and patient with each other as He carries out that holy work in each one of us, and may we fight for each other in intercessory prayer and yearn for each other to reach the fullness of our most holy and precious Redeemer, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Phil 1:4-6) In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Phil 2:12,13) Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
(Heb 7:25) Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
(2Thess 2:11-13) For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children—encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. And we continually thank God because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as the true word of God—the word which is now at work in you who believe.
(Eph 4:11-13) And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.
(Posted on Facebook 2/7/2021 Talitha Koum)
No comments:
Post a Comment