Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Jesus flippin' tables -or- spring cleaning -or- why do i have to go to church

Sunday, I was with the kids during the church service and I fought tears through the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and everyone crying "Hosanna! Hosanna!" (I love that story!).

Even though I missed the sermon, I caught a summary of it and that it was based on John 2:13-22 -- one of my favorite Bible passages where Jesus flipped tables at the temple.  That story makes me wanna high-five the person next to me and yell "YEEEE-UH!!!! Jesus takin' care of business!!!"

But the summation of Sunday's sermon was more about how the temple for us now is our temple- our spiritual house- and that Jesus wants to clean that house and what would He find if He came in and pulled up the cushions... I didn't actually HEAR the sermon, but this was what I was catching was the gist of it.... anyhoo...

So my husband took my two oldest for an outing and the youngest is napping and I'm taking full advantage of an EMPTY HOUSE TO CLEAN IT...  SPRING CLEAN IT... DEEP CLEAN IT...

So the couch came from the wall... uhm, YUK... all the trash and toys underneath it... pure embarrassing...

Then the cushions came off the other couch... more of the same... and then I found that some of the fabric had come away from the back... and there was MORE TRASH AND TOYS...

I flipped the couch... and ALL.THE.TRASH... dear Lord, forgive me for letting my house get so gross!  But remember, last year, when I was SO sick and I was misdiagnosed and I couldn't change the babies diapers without my hands BLEEDING!  I could not clean properly last year either... DEAR JESUS!

But when I flipped the couch, I thought about this passage and how Jesus wants to clean the cobwebs of my heart... how He wants me to be functional and healthy spiritually speaking...

I mean, you know what happens if you don't properly clean your house: YOU GET SICK. The dust. The mold. The germs. All piled up. All on top of you. And on the ones you live with.

And this just made me finally realize the answer that some of you put to me from time to time:
WHY DO I NEED TO GO TO CHURCH?

Well, church is a good time to clean your spiritual house- can this be done at your home? yes.

But I gotta be honest: I get distracted at my house. Going to church REQUIRES ME to stop and assess my spiritual life.

It's like how I keep data on every kid for every speech therapy session: I do that so I can assess his progress and make plans for the next session- do we need to review some skills? can we go to the next level?

So anyway: this Sunday is Easter. It's a good time to hit the reset button. Don't let the enemy keep you from something new, something fresh, something amazing because of whatever- fill in the blank...

I pray that we all find His love in the story of His resurrection and hope for today and strength for the future...