Removing the Clutter

My office is kind of like my Batcave or Fortress of Solitude. However, my office has been in shambles for months. Then yesterday, I had to move some stuff which caused one area of my office to be less cluttered while simitaneously making the rest of the clutter seem greater. So I was compelled to clean my office today--moving books, shelving them, filing papers, throwing stuff away and so on. As the cleanness began to spread slowly, I began to think about how life sometimes get cluttered. Life comes at us fast and we often just react. We push the less urgent things to the side, and think, I'll do that later. However, if we are not careful later comes later than we think. Our to-do lists get longer, and time seemingly gets shorter. As believers, we are not live our lives on autopilot. We are called to make the most out of every moment. This is why self-control is so important.

When trying to rid our lives (and offices) of clutter there are some helpful things we can do. The first step is to slow down and assess our priorities. What really matters? There are two schools of thought on what to do next. First, we can tackle the small stuff, building our confidence with each little victory. Or we tackle the big stuff, knocking out the hard stuff first. A third approach, which is highly ineffective and creates more problems in the long run, is to move the mess from place to place. I used to do this as a child when I cleaned my room. I would pull everything out of the closet and from under the bed spend hours sorting through the mess, get bored and frustrated, and just cram it all back under the bed or in the closet.

The most important thing we can do is to remember we do not possess the power to clean up our lives by ourselves. The Holy Spirit lives within the believer, and works to bring about change in their heart. He works in and through us to bring about in us the image of Christ. Philippians 2:12-13 demonstates the the reality our working in conjuction with the Spirit. Paul state, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." The reality that the Spirit is at work in our lives, bringing about obedience, does not negate our responsiblity to seek to live obedient lives. Nor does the reality that we are called to walk in obedience minimize the Spirit's work in our lives. We must understand that we are called to do the will of God, and that the Spirit enable such work in us.

When our priorities are correct God will bring order to our lives. When we fail, we must confess and continue to trust that Jesus' blood and righteousness continues to secure our right standing before God. As Jesus stated, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matt. 6:33, ESV). Sometimes when we tackle the big issues first, the small ones resolve themselves. At other times the big ones seem so daunting that we need to bolster our confidence through a few small victories before we tackle them. In the end, what we must come to understand is that when we walk in obedience, it is because the Spirit has done a work in our heart. We are held by the grace of God and for that we should be thankful.