"Your Dirt Is The Same As My Dirt"

It is no secret that I have a love for cleaning and cleaning supplies. I know it sounds strange, but I LOVE to clean. There is nothing quite like the feeling of seeing something that is really dirty, putting your heart and soul into it and then watching it sparkle and shine. I love clorox. I love magic erasers. I love pine sol. I love to pressure wash. Anything that can take that which was dirty and make it clean makes my heart leap for joy. I have always had an obsession with my house being spotless until recently. I have recently been doing some cleaning for some friends and the more I clean for others the less I work on my own dirt. Somehow my dirt doesn't seem as bad as others dirt, but guess what...dirt is dirt. As I looked around my disgusting home last night knowing it was time for a deep clean, but not really having a burden to see it done God revealed to me why I am not as passionate about my dirt anymore. Matthew 7:3-5 describes it so clearly. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank our of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." How often does our neighbor's dirt seem so much worse than our own dirt. We compare, we judge, we condemn all the while walking in sin ourselves. The more we focus on the dirt in someone else's life the less we notice or are disgusted with or own dirt. God says, (how dare you) you hypocrite...you have dirt too and dirt is dirt, so why does their dirt bother you, but your dirt does not? WOW, have you ever been guilty of this? If we were honest, we all have. The sins of others bother us so much, but we never stop to see that we ourselves have sins and sin bothers God! In His eyes sin is sin! "At least my bathrooms are cleaner than hers." Guess what...dirt is dirt...a little or a lot it is still called dirt. The more we focus on the dirt or sins of others the more we become desensitized to our own dirt and sin. In our eyes it just doesn't seem so bad. Guess what my friend? It still grieves the heart of a Holy and righteous God. We must pray that our hearts never become desensitized to sin, especially our own sin. Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a CLEAN heart Oh God and renew a right spirit within me." We must pray and ask the Lord to clean our hearts and to renew a right spirit within us. A spirit that is concerned about the things that our God is concerned about. A spirit that offers grace to others, not condemnation. I love that phrase "renew a right spirit within me." In other words when my heart was clean I had a right spirit, but I have become dirty and in doing so my spirit is no longer right. The psalmist is saying "I recognize that my heart is not pure and clean and that my spirit is not right, so Holy Spirit of God make my heart clean and renew that right spirit within me." So how do we allow God to make our hearts clean...clorox and a magic eraser ain't gonna cut this. I John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We have that promise that as we take or sins to Him and ask for forgiveness he will forgive us. James 5:16 says "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.. The prayer of a righteous man are powerful and effective." There is wisdom and healing in finding a Godly friend who you can confess to and pray with about your sins. I love that it says confess to each other, pray for each other and you will be healed. Healing is an awesome thing, especially healing from sin. As we confess, share and pray with others about our sin there is accountability and through the accountability healing can come. When you have others holding you accountable and asking you about your sin, it cannot become a secret sin that seeks to destroy. It is laid open for all to see and you can begin to clean it and get rid of it. HEALING!!! Physical healing is wonderful but it will never compare to spiritual healing. Physical healing is for a time, but spiritual healing is for eternity. At our house we have what we call clean-up day. That means everybody is cleaning everything. Declare today "clean-up day" in your own heart and life. Go before the Father and ask Him to... "Search me, O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24. Dirt is dirt and sin is sin! It is all disgusting and repulsive to God. Your dirt is the same as my dirt. GROSS!