Clean Your Room!

Read: John 17:6-19; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 2:11; Hebrews 10:22-23

Originally written 10/25/04 (Revised 6/9/09)

This weekend two things are continually coming to mind – sanctification and my daughter’s room. All week I’ve been hearing, “I want my people to be sanctified, clean and holy.” All weekend I’ve wanted my daughter’s room to be clean. It was a frustrating endeavor because there was little time and the job seemed enormous! I was frustrated because it was only six months ago that my husband and I did a complete overhaul in our daughter’s room. Not one inch went uncovered. Everything and I mean everything had its place. It was a wonderful room to spend time in. Fast forward six months later and it’s a whole different room. As we began to investigate her messiness, we realized that instead of putting things in their proper place she was stuffing things everywhere – especially under her bed and in her closet. I cannot honestly express the mess she created. Trying to get it cleaned up only caused an even greater mess. I really felt like I was going to have a melt down due to a volcanic eruption (I’m sure other mothers understand this description). This situation (and mess) was not something I needed in my life at the time, yet God used it to give me an illustration of how He sees us.

Our lives are “our rooms.” He has prepared a place for everything and has a purpose and a plan – just as He has laid it out. He wants our lives to be clean and “sanctified” for Him. Through His Word He gives us instruction and guidance. John 17:17 – “Sanctify them by Your truth, Your Word is truth.” Just as I was giving my daughter instruction on when to clean her room (and sometimes how to do it), I trusted that she was being obedient. God also desires our obedience.

I looked up the word sanctify and sanctification in the Vines Dictionary. Sanctification is a separation to God. It’s the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. It says: “Sanctification is God’s will for the believer and His purpose in calling us by the gospel, it must be learned from God, as He teaches it by His Word and it must be pursued by the believer, earnestly, and undeviatingly.” It gets better…”For the holy character cannot be transferred or imputed, it’s an individual possession, built up, little by little, as the result of obedience to the Word of God, and of following the example of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

You see if my daughter would have been obedient – there would be no work that would need to be done in her room – it would have only taken a “little by little” each day. Instead, she must face a complete overhaul – again! Just cleaning out under her bed and making a small dent in her closet took 7 hours. You would have no idea by looking at her room that any time was spent cleaning – it still looks like a disaster!

Why am I comparing the two? It’s because God wants us to be set apart for Him. Yet, when He looks into our lives He sees the mess we are making due to the lack of obedience, and not earnestly seeking what He has instructed us to do. God wants to clean house. 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 – “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has given us His Holy Spirit.” If we don’t, we miss the blessings He wants to bring.

The biggest blessing you can lose is the Spirit working within you. Someone might argue the fact, but I know what it is like to have the Spirit live in you and then you decide you can do it according to your individual plan (not His). If you live a life according to the flesh you relinquish the Spirit indwelling in you. I know what it’s like because it happened to me 25 years ago. I remember the pain as if it was yesterday, and I have repeated, “I never want to experience that again!” David must have also experienced the same thing as he penned Psalm 51:10-11 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

You can wait until your life is a complete mess (like my daughter’s room) and it will take a very long time to clean it up. I strongly believe there is always a consequence, but for the grace of God there is forgiveness and restoration. A life of disobedience can be cleaned and sanctified for the purpose of God. He wants it no other way! Don’t hesitate, get to cleaning up today – even if you just start “a little by little” each and every day. In no time you’ll notice the difference of being obedient.

“So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16 NIV