stephen R Harrison

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about kids it is they make messes. However, that’s life! I’d rather have kids and the messiness that accompanies them than a perfect house without them! Oh, I make some, too! Sometimes those messes are little. Sometimes those messes are big. My wife and I are constantly saying things to our kids like, “Pick up the clothes in your bathroom floor…that’s why you have a laundry basket in your closet. Put your dishes away…in the dishwasher. Pick up the trash in your floor…it’s not yours?…well, who else lives in your room?”. As a parent, have you ever cleaned up the house only to feel like it exploded an hour later?

There are certain things we are attempting to teach our kids about keeping a house clean. Simple things like when the trash is full, empty it. Folded clothes need to be put away. Dishes don’t live in the sink – put them in the dishwasher or cabinets. Now, there are some things we let slide. We don’t make beds every day. Sometimes, the mess can wait as we value spending time with them. Now, we are going to clean the house (as best we can) before we have company over because that shows people they are important. But, we don’t clean just so others won’t think we live like pigs, we clean so we won’t live like pigs! We want our kids to take care of our things so that later in life they will take care of their own.

Here’s a principle: the house doesn’t clean itself. That laundry isn’t going to fold itself. Cleaning house is something we do consistently a little each day because little messes can become big messes if not dealt with consistently. There are also days we clean everything. Here’s the spiritual point: Jesus alone cleanses our souls!

Did you know Jesus “cleaned house”? Well, at least twice and not in the way you might think. He cleaned the house of God (the Temple) when it was being turned into a den of thieves. Luke 19:45-46 tells us, “Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” John 2 tells us Jesus made a whip to force the moneychangers out. Jesus was cleaning God’s house of all the corruption. It had become unlivable for God in that condition. Imagine that…a church so messy that not even God can go to it!

I love going to church and being the pastor of a church. I sure want God to be pleased and make it a place where we can worship Him. But, Scripture tells us, “God doesn’t live in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48). We must remember, “Your (Christians) bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God” (1 Corinthians 6:19). God lives in those who believe in Him. We are God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Think about this: If Jesus was coming over for a visit, would you clean your house? Of course you would! Would there be things you would put out of plain sight or even attempt to hide? But, if God’s Spirit lives in us, what can we hide? He knows everything (Psalm 147:5; Hebrews 4:13). The good thing about Jesus is he knows everything about us and still wants to be with us and loves us! We don’t have to put on a show or pretend around him. When we reveal the mess in our lives, he knows exactly how to cleanse us and make us brand new.

Perhaps we need our temples truly cleansed? Maybe it’s time to let Jesus take over the cleaning of our soul instead of sweeping that sin under the rug? While we do have the responsibility of being holy and avoiding sin, only Jesus can cleanse and forgive us from sin. When we clean our house, we enlist the help of all the family. Everyone has a task. However, when Jesus cleaned His Father’s house, He did it by Himself. He alone can forgive sin. He didn’t say, “Peter, you dust the moneychanger’s tables. James, you sweep up the sheep and bird droppings.” He got to the heart of the matter. He doesn’t just cause us to look better on the outside for company or show, He cleanses the real us: heart, soul, and mind! Jesus doesn’t surface clean, He deep cleans! Hallelujah! He alone cleaned because He alone saw the mess for what it truly was. Sin that separates from a relationship with Him and oh how he wants a relationship with us!.

We can’t wash away our own sins. Not even a group effort can do that. We may try, but best case scenario is we cover it up. When it comes to our sin, we would be proned to throw things in the closet, under the bed or shove them in a junk drawer. We would clean around the moneychangers; Jesus cast them out. Jesus doesn’t spot clean – He spotlessly cleans. He doesn’t clean around sin. He eliminates and erases it. He forgives and washes us whiter than snow! Only He can wipe sins away (Mark 2:10). He alone gets the stain of sin out! Only Jesus can make things brand new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Pray this Scripture to Him: “Create in me a clean Heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me” (Psalm 51:10).

Thank you Jesus for forgiving my sins! Thank you for loving me in the middle of my mess! Thank you that I don’t have to get cleaned up on my own before I come to you. Thank you but I don’t have to pretend i’m perfect. Thank you for helping me to be holy as you are holy. Thank you for seeing me beyond the filth of my sin! Thank you for not covering up my sin but making me brand new!