Several years ago, my daughter was working on cleaning her room and had come to give me the official “it’s clean now” report, which was my cue to go check her room. Almost always, without fail, I would have to then point out all the things scattered on the floor, sticking out from under the bed, hanging off the bed, etc. that she apparently could not see. We have learned from many past experiences, that her definition of clean and mine are not the same. However, just as she was telling me her room was clean, she stopped herself and said something that had me struggling to control my laughter. She said, “Hang on a minute. Let me check again cause a parent can see better in a messy room than a kid can.”
I managed to control my laughter until she made it back to her room and then I let myself chuckle at her words. Before I had even finished laughing, the Lord pricked my conscience and I grabbed a piece of paper that was lying nearby to write down what she had said. I knew I would want to remember it because God was already using it to speak to my heart. He was already reminding me how much better He sees what’s inside my heart than I do. Ouch! Yes, a parent can definitely see better in a messy room than a kid can. In the messy room of my heart, my Father can see a lot of things that need to be cleaned, dealt with, or removed. There’s still a lot of work to be done.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT). That’s a bold prayer to pray, my friend. Do you have the courage to pray it? Do you have the courage to ask Him to “check your room” and see how clean it is? Do you have the courage, and dare I say, the genuine desire to please Him, to ask for an examination like this? If we truly desire to please Him, it is a prayer we need to learn to pray. It is an examination that we need to learn to voluntarily submit to. If we desire to mature and grow, we must learn to let Him examine our hearts on a regular basis.
Like my daughter has learned, we can miss a lot of things; we can think something is clean, when in fact it is not. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it” Jeremiah 17:9. Sometimes we need a little help seeing what needs to be cleaned up, what needs to be removed from our hearts. It’s not easy for us to see into the dark recesses of our hearts but thankfully we have a Father who can. Through the power of the Holy Spirit which dwells within us, He can shine a light into the deepest darkest corners of our hearts and help us to see what needs to be worked on. And no matter who you are, there are likely things that still need some work in your heart.
As long as we walk this earth, we believers are going through a process called sanctification. Which is just a long word meaning that we are to be constantly growing, maturing, and becoming more Christ-like. Let me say that again. It is something we should be doing. Not everyone is willing to submit to the Holy Spirit’s work in their hearts and lives. They are saved but not very interested in growing. They’d rather do like my daughter and hide stuff and pretend it isn’t there. They have no interest in the hard work of sanctification because it requires the death of self. But, my friend, is that any kind of life for a believer? How sad it is to see a Christian that never matured or grew spiritually.
My friend, may I ask you a very personal question or two? Are you growing and maturing spiritually? Do you have a desire to mature spiritually? Can you look back over the last year and see any changes, any growth in your spiritual maturity? In what ways have you changed since you first accepted Christ? Are you comfortable with the answers to these questions? I don’t know about you, my friend; I can only speak for myself, but I do not want to come to the end of my life and not have grown or matured. Believe me; I’ve wasted plenty of time that regretfully, I have to confess I was not growing and maturing. However, with all my heart I want to grow; I want to mature.
I don’t want to stand before my beloved Savior someday and be filled with regret over my lack of growth. I want to please Him. I want to be more like Him. I know it won’t be easy, but I just don’t want to waste anymore time. I don’t want to be one of those people who grew old but never grew up spiritually. I want people to be able to see a difference in me. I want to grow more and more like Him each year. I want to be able to say with each passing year that I am a little more mature than I was the year before. I want to have gained a little more wisdom and maturity. And the only way that is going to happen is if I am courageous enough to ask Him to help me.
The only way I am going to grow more like Him is if I ask Him to “search my heart” (Ps. 139:23) and show me what still needs to be cleaned. Maturing and become more like Christ requires courage, dear heart, because you have to be willing to do some things that may be difficult for you to do. Just ask my daughter; having a parent point out the things that need to be cleaned is not much fun. It’s not fun, but its necessary. Just in case you are wondering, my daughter did indeed miss quite a lot of things and was very unhappy when I helped her see what she had missed. But you want to know something else? She may not like the cleaning process, but she loved it when it was over.
My little girl didn’t like to clean, and she hated it when I showed her what needed to be done, but she sure loved the room when the cleaning was done. I often found her reaction amusing. You would never know how tough the process had been by the way she enjoyed her clean room and liked to show it off to people. She once asked a friend of ours inside our house just so she could show her “how clean her room was”. The cleaning may not be much fun, but the results are always worth it, beloved. The cleansing may hurt, but once finished, you will love the way it feels. You might even feel compelled to share with someone the results of the cleansing.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you of something very important. God will never ask you to do something that is not for your ultimate good. If He is asking you to change something, clean up something, or give up something, it is because He wants what is best for you. It may not feel like it at the time, but trust me, He knows what He is doing. Everything He does is ultimately for Your good and His glory. I may not know much, my friend, but this I do know; He can be trusted. His love for You can be trusted. A love for you so deep that it led Him to the cross can be trusted, beloved child of God. You can trust your heart to the One who loves you that much. It is safe in His hands.
Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! Lam. 3:40
For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Galatians 6:3-5
Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. Psalm 26:2
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Rev. 2:5
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23
Katrina Douglas
