A Clean House - Martin Wiles

So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. 1 Peter 2:1-3 MSG

Every evening, my wife performs her ritual.

My wife and I aren’t the clean freaks we once were. Age, along with aches and pains, have altered the cleaning habits we once had. Before age took its toll, we cleaned all of our antique furniture with lemon oil every week. Now, I dust twice a month—and with a feather duster.

But some things haven’t changed—especially how my wife feels about vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning the bathrooms. Every night, after the grandboys leave and it’s just us in the house, she performs her nightly routine.

First, if she has cooked the evening meal, she cleans the kitchen. Stove and counters wiped down. Dishes placed in the dishwasher. Coffee prepared for the next morning. Trash taken out.

Second, the vacuum she bought that vacuums rugs, carpet, and floors—all without changing a setting—comes out. This takes care of the vacuuming and sweeping at the same time. Weekly—or more depending on the weather—she mops. 

Finally, the bathrooms get wiped down. Boys dominate my wife’s life—me, two grandboys, and one male child she keeps. Males are not known for extreme cleanliness in the bathrooms.

Only when my wife’s routine is finished does she sit in her recliner and enjoy what’s left of the evening. Which might include selling on Facebook or helping me grade papers. She’s a fan of the old adage, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

I suppose Peter was also. In the paraphrase of the above verses, he tells believers to clean house—but not of dirt as my wife does. He says we should clean out malice, pretense, envy, and hurtful talk. In their place, we should radiate God’s kindness.

My wife also replaces what she takes away. Plug-in air fresheners replace the bad odors dirty bathrooms, soiled diapers, and stinky clothes can leave behind. Pinesol takes away dirt from the floor, and the vacuum sucks away the dust and dirt from the rugs and carpet.

Some things just don’t belong in a clean house—and some things don’t belong in the temple of our bodies because God’s Spirit dwells there. Whatever does not encourage and uplift others needs to be cleansed away. So do things that don’t fit who we are as God’s children. When we replace the dirt with kindness, we become better people, and others we encounter are enriched as well.

Jesus cleaned out sinful situations and replaced them with the cleanliness of kindness. You can too.

Tweetable: Are you keeping a clean house? 

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to keep our houses clean so the working of Your Spirit will not be quenched.

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