The Cluttered Closet

Have you ever cleaned out a closet, an attic or a garage? My wife will sometimes decide that she cannot take the clutter any more and dive into cleaning out a room or a closet in our house. A few weeks ago she tackled a linen closet where rags, towels and bed linens had gotten totally out of control. Within an hour or so she had it completely organized. However, in the process she ended up with a pile of stuff, old rags, towels and sheets that we no longer needed or they no longer matched our decor! I also will occasionally decide to clean out my closet. I go in with the intention of simply putting stuff back where it belongs but I always seem to find a pair of shoes, a tie or a pair of pants that I never wear and end up getting rid of them.

The other morning as I was carrying my daughter from her room to the kitchen I tripped over a box that was in the middle of the floor. After almost breaking my neck I looked down to see a box of stuff that my wife had cleaned out of yet another closet. In the hustle and bustle of the morning I did not think much about it. Later that day I was thinking about all of the stuff we have in our closets, or attics and our garages and I realized the same can be said about our lives as it relates to the spiritual side of things. We fill our minds and our lives with a lot of stuff we don't need. We fill it with TV shows, we fill it with mind numbing statistics of our favorite athlete, we fill our mind with the latest styles and trends, we fill it with gossip magazine articles. We fill our lives with the business of work, kids, sports and activities. But one of the most dangerous things we fill our minds and lives with is sin. Sometimes we let it just accumulate in our lives like junk piling up in a closet.

So how do we de-clutter our lives? How do we get back into a right relationship with God. I think we have to start with what I just mentioned, unconfessed sin. I believe this is one of the most dangerous areas of our lives. This is one of the closets we cannot overlook, we cannot allow to get away from us. This is one of the closets that intimidate us. This is the closet that makes us cringe every time we think about having to clean it out. Take a look at David's thoughts on this:

Psalm 32: 1-5 - 1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

Verse 3 is basically saying that while David avoided cleaning out this closet of his life he was a mess. Nothing was going right, nothing was happening the way it was supposed to.

Isaiah also talked about issues associated with unconfessed sin:

Isaiah 59: 2 - 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Isaiah is saying that God will not even listen to us if we have unconfessed sin in our lives.

Before we can begin asking God to help us in other areas of our lives we have got to clean out the closet we least want to clean out. The closet of unconfessed sin. This closet can fill up with junk on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis. One of the most encouraging verses as it relates to this is found in I John:

I John 1: 8-10 - 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Do not ignore the cluttered closet, do not let it get out of control, roll up your sleeves and get to work.