Saturday a good friend from high school and her husband came to our home for lunch. She was a great friend in school. We were pom pon girls together and we share a special bond from being together in a car wreck where we totalled my mother's brand new car. She is an amazing woman who has a solid, tried and tested faith in Jesus Christ. I am so blessed to have her as a friend. However, I was nervous about her coming to my house. I have people in my home quite often and learned a long time ago not to ruin my fellowship with my guest by being all stressed out trying to make everything perfect, but this time I regressed back to some old behavior. I wanted my house to be perfect when she came. I think it is because she is an interior designer and I knew she would pay attention to details. So, I needed to pay attention to details. All of a sudden, the items on my six month old 'to do list' had to be completed Saturday morning. I tidied up Brittne's room which I rarely go into. I painted a spot on the wall mural where the puppies had scratched it. I cleaned the porches that looked like they had already been through a long winter. I even cleaned off the dirt on the outdoor grill! It felt good taking care of those little things and getting the house looking good! I am just glad she didn't open a drawer or closet. See, I only really cared about what she was going to see, not the areas that were hidden. I also kept noticing all the things that were still on the hit list that didn't get done, like repainting all my woodwork. I just hoped she didn't notice all the flaws.
Many times we act out the same scene spiritually. We have this 'to do list' in our head that we want to accomplish but we put it off because of all the other things we allow to have precedence. Then the day comes that we get around people we want to impress and we try to clean all up. Well, at least on the outside. We really don't mess with the hidden things. Nobody is going to see those things. When we are with them, all we can think about is the things we haven't finished cleaning up. We wonder if they are noticing our flaws.
I am so glad we can't act this way with God. No matter how good we make our self look on the outside, he sees the hidden things. He opens every closet and every drawer. I am very thankful that He sees it all because if I could hide things from God, I would. I would be afraid to let Him see all of me, so I would hide, just like Adam and Eve did. I would concentrate on the outward appearance, hoping that would be enough to please Him. However, He is not concerned about the outward appearance, He cares about the hidden things of the heart. He changes the inside which changes the outside. He sees every inch of dust, clutter, and dirt that looms there. He sees all of me; the things that nobody else sees, the things that I don't even see. So, I don't have to hide things, it would just be a waste of time. Because he sees and knows everything, I get to experience an intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior. How thankful I am for that!
Many times we act out the same scene spiritually. We have this 'to do list' in our head that we want to accomplish but we put it off because of all the other things we allow to have precedence. Then the day comes that we get around people we want to impress and we try to clean all up. Well, at least on the outside. We really don't mess with the hidden things. Nobody is going to see those things. When we are with them, all we can think about is the things we haven't finished cleaning up. We wonder if they are noticing our flaws.
I am so glad we can't act this way with God. No matter how good we make our self look on the outside, he sees the hidden things. He opens every closet and every drawer. I am very thankful that He sees it all because if I could hide things from God, I would. I would be afraid to let Him see all of me, so I would hide, just like Adam and Eve did. I would concentrate on the outward appearance, hoping that would be enough to please Him. However, He is not concerned about the outward appearance, He cares about the hidden things of the heart. He changes the inside which changes the outside. He sees every inch of dust, clutter, and dirt that looms there. He sees all of me; the things that nobody else sees, the things that I don't even see. So, I don't have to hide things, it would just be a waste of time. Because he sees and knows everything, I get to experience an intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior. How thankful I am for that!
O God, You know my folly and blundering; my sins and my guilt are not hidden from You.
Psalms 69:5 (Amplified Bible)
God you know every sin I've committed; My life's a wide-open book before you
Psalms 69:5 (The message)
5 comments:
When I "clean" for company but have several doors shut and hope they don't ask for a "tour"....I call that "smoke and mirrors" cleaning.....
May we never approach our Lord with smoke and mirrors.
How blessed we are that God see's it all and loves us beyond measure. I pray that I look at others through the eyes of Jesus and not my earthly ones.
I am like you I think would try to hide things from God to but I am glad that he knows everything. And by the way your house is always so nice and clean....I would hate for you to drop by my house unannounced because it is a pit! :-)
I think this is one of my greatest challenges as a believer -- taking time along the way to clean my spiritual house. This means getting before God on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis and letting him speak to me about the condition of my heart. It's so much easier to go about my business and just worry about surface dirt. Like the Scriptures point out, though -- this isn't possible with God. How "pharisee-like" I am when I only clean up on the outside!
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