Spring Cleaning

Our garage is a mess. Sure, I can park my car in it. Yes, I do have moving boxes from three years ago still filling up the far corners of the space. Of course, I have my practice net up for hitting golf balls in winter weather.

The periphery of my garage is full of stuff which is only used seasonally or not at all. A tool bench (came with the rental) sits covered in a box of old books and toys waiting for their final donation destination. Our garbage cans encroach on the area my car is supposed to rest. The back wall is hidden behind stacks of Christmas decoration totes and old yard implements (which also came with the place). My wife's car squeezes in between my car, the lawnmower and four snow tires I have yet to have returned to my car. A dismal and depressing sight to be sure. I need someone disconnected from the memories of this stuff to come clean it out.

My car is, far and away, the most valuable and impressive thing in the entire garage. Yet the place it "lives" would suggest I care very little about it. (That, and the fact it needs a good vacuuming.)

Your heart is like my garage. Each heart has varying levels of clutter and junk encroaching on the open spot where Jesus Christ should be forever parked. We have cherished pasts, useless trinkets, stinking garbage cans full of refuse, old moving boxes and decaying self-help tools which failed to help us keep our lives in order. You need a spring cleaning.

Jesus is the most valuable and impressive thing you could ever display in your heart's garage. And, unlike my car, He will gladly begin the process of making more space for Himself. He will passionately discard the clutter, the cherish items, the useless trinkets, stinking garbage, and old, decaying self-serving tools you've clung to for much too long.

Call Jesus up and ask Him to be your cleaning crew. Tell Him to throw out everything you don't need. Ask Jesus to do the work. Philippians 2:13 says, "God works in you to will and to do for His good pleasure." God works in you. God works. God works in you. God works in YOU!

Stop waiting to clean out your own heart before asking for His help. Hire Jesus as your heart cleaning company. He'll even bring His own dumpster.

The State of Your Heart Address

Last night the president stood before members of Congress, members of the cabinet, the Justices of the Supreme Court and all of their invitees to share the State of the Union address. He shared his insights on the important issues we have and will face. The president spoke about the economy, foreign policy and education. He challenged those in Washington to stop fighting with each and start working with one another to rebuild America. In essence he set the tone for his re-election campaign as well as his legislative agenda for the coming year. The SOTU address, as usual, gave key insights into his administration's goals, policies and plans. It will serve as reference point for future analysis of his effectiveness.

Today, and everyday, you have the opportunity to have your own address: the State of Your Heart address. The audience is you, but you have a choice of speechwriters.

Satan writes speeches full of selfishness and false justification. He places a work of deception before your heart and asks you to simply read the words of self-gratification and ease off his teleprompter. His rhetoric subtly supports deep divides between the party of good and evil. Each line pulls at the emotions and passions of the sinful hearts we fight with everyday.

God writes speeches of selflessness and true justification. He places a work of truth before your heart and asks for you to live the words of self denial and surrender through His Prompter, the Holy Spirit. His rhetoric boldly lifts you from the darkness of the party of evil and brings your thoughts to the courts of heaven. Each line brings conviction and change to the sinful hearts we fight with everyday.

Do not let today go by without a true State of Your Heart address. Do not let a moment pass without sitting down with the only One who can deliver on His promise of real change. Not simply political, economic or world change; true heart change.

Something from Nothing

"Then God said, 'Let there be light; and there was light.'" -Genesis 1:3 (emphasis added)

The power of God gives me a headache sometimes. Everything on our planet involves a beginning and end. Life is conceived, born, lived and, finally, closed with death. Marriages are conceived, experienced and shared, and, finally, end in death of one kind or another (physical, emotional, spiritual). Every relationship we have follows a natural life cycle. Watch National Geographic long enough and you see the "circle of life" played out over and again.

What I have a hard time imagining is God taking nothing and speaking something into existence. Even harder on my poor brain is considering what I'll call the non-beginning of God Himself. Without getting too off track, God has always been, is now and will always be. How can this be possible?

The overwhelming power of God's words floors me. They brought something from nothing. They stopped waves from capsizing a boat and the wind from blowing. His words brought forgiveness to the unforgivable. They gave strength to legs which had never taken a step. They commanded the realm of darkness from a tortured man and into the pigs. His words proclaimed the end of sin's deathly reach in our world and brought hope to men and women of all ages, races, creeds, societies, languages, and nations.

God's words bring something from nothing even today. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

There is no aspect of your life where the words of God cannot bring new life and redemption. There is no portion of your life where God cannot speak His word and create something from nothing. There is no limit to His creative power. There is no expiration date on His words. May the words of Genesis speak to the darkness in your life. May God say, "Let there be light', and there is light.