Psalms 51:10
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
I know this sounds crazy, but I love to clean my house! Now, listen close because there’s a catch! I only like to clean my house when my house is mostly clean. What?!?! I know you think that makes no sense at all, but it really does. You see, when I am behind in my housework, whether it is laundry, doing the dishes, dusting, or a combination of several things. I become easily overwhelmed with the task at hand.
This makes me think of our verse.
Psalms 51:10
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
The psalmist was no doubt a believer. He had experienced a clean heart, or he would not have known what it was like to feel dirty. He had known what it was like to have a right spirit or he wouldn’t have wanted it renewed. In fact, he uses the word “create,” in this verse. This is no coincidence. It is the same idea in Genesis 1:1, where it says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Created implies that God made them out of nothing. When our hearts are dirty with sin, we come to God realizing that we are nothing, that there is no good in and of ourselves and we, with a repentant heart, ask God for his grace to make us clean. We are not receiving salvation again, but we are renewing our fellowship with our Heavenly Father and, once again, dying to the “old” and “carnal” man. This repentance is the process of “cleaning” our heart.
Just as our homes need regular cleaning, so our hearts need cleaning, as well. It is much easier to clean up relationships, attitudes, minds, and hearts when we keep our lives in check. But, when we let things “go,” and our life becomes filled with “spiritual” cobwebs of sin, we have much more cleaning up to do. We can become discouraged and defeated in our Christian walk. The victory and joy that come from fellowship with Christ are covered up beneath a heart filled with sin.
Keeping a short “to do” list of heart matters will help us have a much healthier, happier, and clean heart.
Think on These Things ~ Friend, just like housework, it is much easier to tidy up a few things in our hearts than deep clean.
