Things Unseen

“Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are still filthy-full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside?” Luke 11:39-40


When it comes to cleaning our house my husband and I have differing opinions, but we do complement each other well. Garrett believes in cleaning everything that can be seen and anything that is behind closed doors is not a big deal. Even Avery our three year has that mind set. Avery loves to have a clean room. Every day he gets home from school he goes straight to his room to see if I have picked it up or not. I will never forget the first time Avery got upset because his room was a mess. He came home from school went to his room saw that it had toys on the floor and he put his hands on his hips and said “Mommy, you did not clean my room, and let out the biggest ugh.” The next thing I knew he was in there cleaning it up.

When he had finished he came and found Garrett and I and said, “Mommy, daddy come look.” So Garrett and I went into his room and Avery threw up his hands and said, “Surprise!” Garrett and I could not believe how well he did. All he lacked was vacuuming and he would have if he could push the vacuum and was not afraid of it.

As much as Garrett and Avery love things being clean they both only believe in cleaning things that can be seen and anything behind closed doors is not a big deal. Thus throwing things in closets, drawers and cabinets and closing the doors. That is exactly what Avery did the first day and still does to this day with his toys. I remember thinking oh my goodness this is great he actually put all of his toys in his toy box and everything. So I walked over opened the closet doors to find he had just thrown everything in there and shut the doors, out of sight out of mind, for them anyway.

For me as happy as I am to have two men in my house that like things clean and will help clean. I am also a little OCD about things being clean that are unseen. Garrett has never understood this but he also never complains about it either, I think after six years he has even become a little OCD about it or he just has gotten smarter and tired of being yelled out.

Whether it is color-coding clothes in closets or folding clothes a specific way so when put up will be neat in the drawers, to dishes being put up a particular way and not just thrown in wherever they fit, and to our junk drawer being organized in a neat orderly fashion. I love knowing that even the things unseen are neat and in order. Crazy, I know and I try not to be so bad about it but it nag’s at me if I know things are out of order or just thrown somewhere.

Though Garrett and I differ in the area of cleaning to an extent there is one area we both agree on, the cleanliness of our hearts. Garrett and I know and want to live our lives in a way that reflects Christ, in and outside of our home. We know that when we just throw things in our hearts and we don’t clean it out it begins to show on the outside, through our arguments, behavior, etc. If Garrett and I were to live as the Pharisees did who failed to understand until they cleaned the inside of their hearts their dirtiness would never go away, we would be of no use or value to the ministry God has called us to. We would be just as hypocritical as the Pharisees were who were more concerned with their outward appearance that everything they did was a show. They lived two different lives. An outward life full of acting as though they were good and obeyed all of the law, and an inward life that was crooked, greedy, jealous and self absorbed.

I wonder how many of us live the same way. We live one way on Sunday’s and when we are around certain people, but on the inside and around others we live completely different. Jesus says we must clean the inside first in order for the outside of us to be clean. Do you have things unseen within you that you know need to be cleaned out?

Prayer: Lord forgive Garrett and I when we fail to clean out the place that matters the most-our hearts. Help us to never fill the inside of our hearts with selfishness, trash, and worldly pleasure. May we live our lives inside out showing You within us. Amen