My Heart: Clean or Cluttered

Psalms 51:10-12 (AMP)
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.


Left to my own devices, I can fill my life with clutter.  Some clutter you can see; like my desktop at work, or the room we call the Red Sox room in our apartment.  It's where the TV is. It's where I spend time watching the beloved Red Sox.  My computer is there, my iPod, the Wii video game that my kids gave me for Christmas.  Give me just a few minutes in there and I can fill it with clutter.

Fun toys provide hours of enjoyment for me.  Certainly there is nothing wrong with that.  However, they can also distract me from important things in life.  Like spending time with my God whom I love, and who loves me.  You see, there is spiritual clutter, too.

Some of the spiritual clutter I create, no one can see.  What are the things I find hard to give to the Lord if He were to ask me?  Worry, stress, my job, money, the acquisition of things, my problems, filling my life with busyness are all things that can clutter my heart.  They can become like idols before my face (see Ezekiel 14).  They can obscure my vision of God in my life.  Do I hold on to my problems instead of giving them to the Lord because I enjoy the attention I get?  Am I important?  Do people notice me?  Maybe I've discovered the biggest idol of all.  It's me!

Cleaning the clutter from my heart seems like too big a job for me to do alone.  Indeed it is.  David cried out to the Lord, "Create in me a clean heart."  "Renew a upright spirit in me."  "Restore to me the joy of your salvation." "Uphold me  with a willing spirit."

The heart is God's workplace.  He loves it when we invite Him in to do His work.

I had the privilege of preaching at New Testament Baptist Church on Sunday.  If God was glorified in the message, I am a happy man.  To hear it click on the link for New Testament Baptist Church.

May God bless!