Cleaning the Cabinets

If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know God seems to speak to me while I’m cleaning.  Ha Ha.

Actually, I know I haven’t been blogging very much lately.  I think Daniel has given up on the idea that I write blogs, but I digress.  I guess having a baby, two “big kids,” dieting, exercising, and all that entails has kept me busy lately.  I’m just not one of those gals who can do it all and eat her cake too.  So I hope you’ll come back and visit because in time, hopefully, I will be back to blogging more regularly.

When do you clean the outside of your cabinets?  When do you clean the inside of your cabinets?

Earlier today I was cleaning the outside of my cabinets.  I’ve been noticing for quite a while how dirty they were, but I had not gotten around to cleaning them, and I don’t have a schedule for cleaning them.  I just knew they were dirty.  So after I cleaned the sink, I looked around and found my next job.  As I was cleaning, God began whispering.  Have you ever noticed a sink, a house, a cabinet that stays perfectly clean after the cleaning is complete?

In my mind I was conversing with myself about how I often take care of the inside before I take of the outside.  I began to hope that I could say the same thing about ME.  I hope that I have a clean heart before I have a clean outward appearance.  “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)  I’m not a real girly girl in the sense that I do not look outwardly pretty and well kept all of the time.  And when I do, I can get it done in a matter of a few minutes.  I like to dress and look nice, but that doesn’t mean that I do it often.  My hair is not always fixed and make up is not usually worn.  And it’s not because I’m lazy, though I’m sure laziness is a factor sometimes.  It is just because I don’t care as much about my outward appearance.  Lately, though I’ve given it more thought.  Dieting and exercising have caused changes in my outward appearance.  And I’m getting older and I really need to put on make up regularly.  I guess you could say that I am learning to take care of the whole me, which includes making new things part of my regular routine – things like walking and wearing make up.

Anyhow, in the midst of all this silliness, I was cleaning the cabinets…
God spoke and He said,

“You are like this cabinet or a house or a sink. You get dirty on the outside and you have to be cleaned out on the inside.”  Even a house that sits empty gets dirty both on the outside and the inside.  And to be really clean, my cabinets need to be replaced with new ones.  (We plan to paint them instead.)

Again God said,

“I make all things new.”  (Rev 21:4)

He has made me new both inside and out, but as much as I have to clean, he continues to make me new, cleaning me daily, hourly, minute by minute, and second by second, into a new creation.

My part?

Offering myself as a living sacrifice.  Surrendering every aspect of me to him for His control and desires.  Not confirming to the world.  (Rom 12:1-2) I’ve gotta be still and let Him clean me outwardly and rearrange inwardly and throw the old things away.