When we moved to Springfield to plant Grace Hill Church, we moved from a house in St. Louis that had a basement to a house in Springfield that did not. That meant that all the junk we had in our basement went in the garage. When I walked outside this morning to go for a walk, I realized that I had left the garage door open all night. That’s not exactly the smartest thing to do since someone could walk off with our stuff and worse yet, they could have walked into the house (I don’t lock the door in the garage because I have the garage door) and made off with more stuff. Well, I put that out of my mind as I went on my walk. (Side note: I left the garage door open while I was on my walk as well) As I was walking back towards the house I noticed how unsightly the front of the house looked with the garage door open and all of our stuff exposed. People that drive by (and many do since we are the first house into our subdivision) can see into our lives as they look at old golf clubs, crates full of magazines and books, lawn equipment, old bedroom furniture and shelves lined with kids clothes…oh, it’s quite a sight. But once that garage door is closed, all is beautiful and orderly in appearance.

To me this is a spot-on metaphor of my life, and perhaps yours. There is all this junk in my garage (life) that I would be embarrassed if people saw it. There are boxes of regret, crates of fears, tubs of lustful thoughts, shelves of addictive behaviors, you get the idea, scattered in my garage. Instead of letting people into my life and letting them see all of my junk, I close the garage door and pretend that my junk is not there. I put on the appearance that my life is fine and “clutter-free,” all the while my garage is a filthy mess.

As I learn more about the wonder of the gospel, I realize that God intends to take the garage door opener of my life and expose the “junk” in my garage, not so he can shame me (that’s the work of sin), but so that he can save me…save me from my junk, save me from being held captive by it, save me from giving the appearance that my life is okay, when it clearly is not. That means that God intends to clean out my garage…to help me see the unhealthy attachment to those “things” so that I can put them to death. I need more than a “Spring cleaning”…a one-time cleaning, because frankly, I will fill my “garage” right back up with “stuff.” I need a “Spirit cleaning,” which is on-going and thorough, getting behind the cracks and crevices. Pray that I will have the wherewithal to let the Holy Spirit have His way in my life as he sanctifies me and helps me to walk in the light of Christ.