Spring Cleaning: Time for Mental, Spiritual Inventory

It happens every year. As we thaw out from our winter slumber, we awaken to the need to do some spring cleaning. The light from longer days reveals the cobwebs and dust that has accumulated all around. We are even made aware of the junk that has piled up in the garage, basement, or wherever junk tends to land. Even the yard rears up as a bastion of weeds, leaves, tree limbs and all sorts of stuff that has blown in from somewhere, probably the neighbors yard. And so the ardous task begins as we sort through our closets for clothes that don't fit to make room for short sleeves and flip flops. The yard sales are abundant, the trips to the second hand stores are numerous, and the garage bins are full. Yes, spring cleaning has begun.

However, there is another form of spring cleaning that might do us some good also. That is cleaning out the unnecessary things that bog one down from living victoriously and abundantly. Too many times, we fill our lives with mental, spiritual junk. Just as we might do an inventory of the home closet to decide what should be kept and what should be thrown out, it is a wise exercise to do a spiritual, mental spring cleaning as well. Our inventory lists of the things in our minds and our spirits will vary, but the need to weigh and measure what is good or what is evil in our lives is needful for all.

To be frank, at some point in time, we must rid ourselves of those things that are ungodly and weigh us down. The writer of Ephesians tells us in chapter 4 verses 22-24, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

The question to ask yourself is, "What do I have in my life that is from the 'old self' that needs to be 'put off?'"

An EMT was working in the Emergency Room when a father brought in his son. The boy had poked a tire from one of his toy trucks up his nose. The father was embarrassed, but the EMT assured him this was something kids often do. The technician quickly removed the tire… and the father and son were on their way. But a few minutes later, the father was back in the ER asking to talk to the EMT in private. As the father entered the examining room he said, "While we were on our way home I was looking at that little tire and wondering, how on earth did my son get this thing up his nose…" and then he went on to explain what the problem was. Fortunately, it only took the EMT just a few seconds to get the tire out of the Dad’s nose.

The challenge in our hectic lives is not to see what else we can fit in, but what needs to be taken out. The writer of Colossians also says in chapter 3 verses 5-10 "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

As we begin sprucing up the house and around the yard, what about a mental, spiritual inventory that leads to a whole new perspective on life? At the risk of getting personal, What can you "rid yourselves of" that will allow your life to become more abundant and victorious?

A mental, spiritual spring cleaning is a new beginning that has the potential to receiving all that God has for us. Jesus is recorded in John 10:10 saying, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." An abundant, victorious life? Now that's a spring cleaning worth the time and effort.