When it comes to getting your life in order where do you start? I've seen a few of those reality TV shows about hoarding. Maybe you've seen them too. They trace a pattern of emotional turmoil in a person's life where they began to find comfort in things. Okay. Well that's not so unusual. We've all turned to things for comfort at some point in our lives. But for the people on these documentaries it doesn't end there.
Somewhere a line is crossed from flirting with the things that soothe, to objects from which obsessions grow. In what seems in no time at all, an individual can go from an everyday neighbor to a compulsive packrat. What's happened? I don't want to oversimplify the emotional intricacies of this condition but I believe we can all agree that whatever is happening in the mind of a hoarder, it can be clearly seen that their obsession has crowded out the most important pursuits of life.
Could it be that we sometimes wander into the area of becoming spiritual hoarders? There are piles of objects, bundles of activities, clusters of people, or stacks of positions that we allow to clutter our heart's house so that we can no longer sense the presence of a holy God. He has something to say about our habit and He stated it very clearly in Exodus 20.
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
I think we can all probably admit that there have been times that we let the junk start accumulating and then we grow accustomed to it and start collecting more. Jesus hit the nail on the head in Matthew 6 when he said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." And right after that he added, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." You might as well know that if you take the word "money" out of that last statement and replace it with practically anything else, it still rings true.
So I'm not sure what your heart's house is looking like today. Even a few scraps of paper on the floor can turn into an obsession that will crowd your God. He likes wide open spaces completely dedicated and turned over to Him. It's time to start carrying the stuff out so you can worship him without distraction.
If you enjoyed this post please use the share icon below to pass it along to others!