Cleanliness is Next To Godliness (or at least it feels like it)

For the last week or so, I have felt a little off-kilter. I’ve kind of been in a funk. I’m not quite sure why. I guess that I am feeling a little home sick, plus I’m having a really hard time getting into a routine down here in Canyonville. I’ve also been fighting-off a cold. So nothing is really going bad, just a lot of little things are starting to get to me in some way.

One thing that I used to do quite often in Salem was clean house: vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, laundry, etc….I kind of enjoy it. It is relaxing in a strange sort of way. It is acting-out a routine, that when something is dirty, you clean it. But with my new weird schedule, and with Susan being home all of the time, she does (and wants to do) all of the cleaning.

But yesterday I had the day off and needed to get out of my funk. The one thing that I wanted to- was clean.

Now I don’t know who made up the saying,” Cleanliness is Next To Godliness”, but it’s pretty much true. It’s right next to “God Helps Those Who Helps Themselves” as the top quoted Bible verses that are not in the Bible at all.

God is clean, pure, righteous, and true. So when our dirtiness, imperfection, and sin come face to face with the reality of God- we feel the need to clean things up. One way that we project this is by cleaning up the physical clutter around us. It makes us feel clean on the inside.

Often, the way we feel on the inside is reflected on the outside. Remember that Jesus said” by their fruits, you will know them”. So when things are going bad in our lives- the space around us can be dirty and cluttered. When things are going good- that can also be reflected by our neat and clean surroundings.

So, after all this ranting, I realize that I need to let God give me peace, cleanliness, and joy on the inside so that it is naturally reflected on the outside; not just a show.