First Steps – April 26, 2021

In my home, there is a silver tray that sits near the kitchen sink.  It is a beautiful serving tray that has the single purpose of being used as the collection place for junk.  On any given day, one could find letters, bills, cards, invitations, pens, paperclips, keys, and anything else that comes to mind.  It is the perfect place for those things no one wants to address.  One would think that when we have friends over for dinner, that it would be the perfect opportunity to clean the clutter off of the silver tray.  As we clean and straighten up the house for guests, it would make sense that the tray would be a part of that process.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  We simply pick the tray up and move it to the laundry room, because that is the perfect hiding place.  When friends leave, we bring it back out to collect more junk.

I wonder how often we give the appearance of our spiritual house being clean.  Instead of doing what needs to be done, we just move it to a place that we think no one will be able to see or discover.  We pose, posture, and hide.  “If I fake it long enough, maybe no one will know,” is our mantra.  Perhaps the Psalmist believed this only to discover there was nowhere he/she could go that God wasn’t (Psalm 139).  If God knows, then what is needed is not hiding or pretending but “a cleansing.”  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  

This week, tackle the silver tray in your life.  God is gracious and merciful.  Allow him to clean from the inside out.  

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6