Spring Cleaning—and Summer, Fall, And Winter Too

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

Hebrews 12:1

If you do spring cleaning, you know the fresh, new feeling that comes after a deep scouring of the house. Once that all-over cleaning is done, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy it. And with regular maintenance, that cleaning will do you for the season—until it’s spring again.

So it is with our hearts and minds. Cleaning out our internal world requires an ongoing, focused commitment on a deeper level. I wish the “throwing off everything that hinders” were a one-time shot that was never required again, but it’s not. In fact, learning to stay focused on Christ in you is a lifelong effort requiring time and diligence. You aren’t, however, required to throw off in your own strength whatever hinders you in order to run the race. That isn’t a prerequisite. Instead, you are invited to throw it all off as you run your race. That’s part of God’s on-the-job training in Christlikeness that happens during the race.

If you want to be unstoppable, keep challenging yourself to clean out the internal world of your heart and mind regularly, so you can focus more clearly on Christ in you, with you, and at work within you. And He will help you with that spring—and summer, fall, winter—cleaning!

Holy Spirit, I yield to Your transforming work to make me more like Jesus. Thank You for showing me what to throw off.