Your Heart: A Dirt-Free Zone

One morning a woman came to my house crying hysterically.

She had taken her twins to school and came home to find that her husband had taken all his things and moved out. Before I go on with the story, let me just say that I had been a Christian only a short amount of time and was not—I repeat—I was not in the ministry!

The woman was crying as she sat at my glass kitchen table.

She would wipe her face, blow her nose, and then press her fingers down on the table, making fingerprints. I subtly got a bottle of glass cleaner, and every time she would lift her hands to wipe away yet another tear, I would spritz a little cleaner and quickly wipe the table. This went on for probably two hours or so, but who’s counting?

Finally, as I went to gently clean away the smudges and residue left on the table by her tears for the thousandth time, she jumped up and said, “If you clean that table one more time . . . !”

I can’t repeat the rest.

As much as I love having a clean home, there is something that is so much more important. We need clean hearts because our hearts are the Holy Spirit’s home, and the Holy Spirit deserves to live in a clean house. He deserves to live in a residence where His voice can be easily heard and His breath can be felt without any obstructions.

Bottom line: God wants His people clean—squeaky clean.

The one chore you have been given as a child of God is to keep your heart a dirt-free zone!

Jesus is not only the King of kings, but He is also the King of clean. <

I say this with all reverence and respect, but He is the original Mr. Clean. God doesn’t like dirt. That’s why He sent His one and only Son to clean up the mess we have made of things. If there were rugs in heaven, they would have perfect vacuum lines. If there were beds, there would be no dust balls underneath.

Heaven is spotless.
Jesus is the spotless Lamb.
He is going to present His church without spot or wrinkle.
He washed all our sins away.

The Word of God washes us daily.

If husbands really want a clean home, they ought to wash their wives with the water of the Word. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus’ clothes turned brilliantly white—whiter than the garments in a Clorox bleach commercial. At the tomb His followers found Jesus’ clothes neatly folded. He cleansed the temple of the money changers. He told the lepers to go and wash.

Revelation 22:14 says those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb have the right to enter heaven.

In Matthew 23:25 Jesus basically told the Pharisees, “You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence.”

Ouch!
Jesus is all about the inside.

The Holy Spirit told Samuel, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7, nas). David wrote in Psalm 24:3–4, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? . . . He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (mev).

Oftentimes our standard of clean and God’s standard of clean are very different.

Sometimes the little things we learn to live with are totally unacceptable as far as God is concerned. But often we don’t realize it until we come face-to-face with the light of God’s Word. The Bible tells us that the entrance of His Word brings light (Ps. 119:130). Once we have an encounter with the truth, then what was acceptable before is acceptable no more!

Question: Is there something right now in your heart that God wants to cleanse you from? Will you let him?

Copyright © 2015 by Maria Durso, All Rights Reserved. Purchase a copy of my new book, From Your Head to Your Heart, on Amazon here.