"Housecleaning!"

Based on Matthew 6-8

If you've ever stayed in a hotel & heard this, it probably made you want to put up the "do not disturb" sign. But, what if someone came to YOUR house? I think we'd all be a little more happy to get some help (although it might get personal letting them into your space)! This is exactly the concept of these next few chapters in Matthew in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. From now on, I'll be listing the chapters above so you can read along this year with me!

Jesus was doing some inner & outer housecleaning of the people. These are things that not only applied to the specific situations of those people, but they are things we can apply today as well for eternal benefit!

"...and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:4. This phrase is repeated several times throughout this passage of reading. In terms of "cleaning up our act" or the things we do on the outside, we should not be prideful, especially when it comes to our giving and prayer life. If we do it without boasting, we will be rewarded openly:

Giving: "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 6:1.

Prayer: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:6.

The best tip to housecleaning the soul should be to start in the closet-the PRAYER closet! Not just to avoid prideful prayer, and not just to pour out all your prayer requests, but to actually let God into the depths your heart to change YOU (and ME too)! It all starts with our own private connection with God!

...Now it's getting personal! We have answered the door to the Housecleaner, and He is definitely getting into all the nooks & crannies! Do we have a hidden junk drawer of grudges that needs to go? If so, here's how to clean out all that unforgiveness:

"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Matthew 6:14‭-‬15.

Remember that eternal benefit! It's going to be a lot harder on us in the long run to keep all that unforgiveness. If we do the hard thing now and forgive that person, even if it's been years, then God will forgive us & we can look forward to a better eternity!

Jesus is really getting into those dark places now! We have now arrived at where we've swept all the emotional debris under the rug. Let's lift it up & get it out:

Love of money: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:19‭-‬21.

Are we too concerned with making money? Does consumerism consume us? Remember, in eternity, we can't take earthly wealth with us. If this obsession exists in the house, time to clear it out & make room for some spiritual stuff!

Worry & fear: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Matthew 6:33-34.

We may have to visit the prayer closet again to find the tools to get rid of this one! Worry is one of the biggest ways the devil dirties up the inside of our human house. Worry clouds our perspective of God. It tells us God can't, He won't, so why even bother? Time to get out your dirt devil vacuum-use Scripture! It says "take no thought for the morrow." Don't worry about it because God's already there!

So remember, this process starts with us first. We can't go into someone else's house and judge how dirty it is (even if our job is a housecleaner!):

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Matthew 7:3.

Jesus wants us to be honest about our faults first before finding fault in others: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12.

Also remember, this is all for eternal benefit as well as earthly benefit. We are housecleaning our way to a heavenly home! And the walkway leading up to that heavenly entrance looks a little like this:

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14.

Not many people are willing to let Jesus be their Housecleaner..."few there be that find" this path to heaven, but it's the first step we need to take! It's a narrow road, but it doesn't have to be a lonely road. We are in this together! Let God into all of those spaces & let Him de-clutter your life! Later in chapter 8, willing people come up and ask for healings. We must willing open the door and let Jesus in. Yes, He may see our insecurities & weaknesses, but only HE has the tools to get rid of them! ;)