Through our kitchen remodel confusion, I’m learning more about life and our growth in the Lord. I now realize that diligence isn’t applied disorder spreads. It’s contagious.
Half of our house is chaos, with kitchen countertops gone, step ladders in the middle of the floor, varying tools scattered around, a sink leaning against the wall, broom and dustpan handy, and more. The nature of the clutter and its placement depends on what’s being worked on at the time.
The dining room is cluttered with a temporary kitchen set up in it. The office is stacked with boxes of things from the cabinets. The front porch is designated for sawing and trash collection, and the path traveled from point to point is covered with scatter rugs to protect the floor.
Ordered chaos is necessary to get the job done. But, I’ve learned that disorder in one area of the house makes it easier to slack off in other parts of the home. The mess spreads from room to room because disorder breeds further disorder.
Confusion in one room makes it harder to stay diligent in maintaining order in the rest of the house. Furthermore, debris from one room gets tracked to another. If it don’t stay on top of it, the house whole house is involved.
Isn’t it the same in life? When I’m diligent to exercise, it’s easier to carefully monitor my food intake. Likewise, when exercise falters, I’m less motivated to watch my eating habits. Diligenct discipline in one area encourages it in others.
The Bible indicates that we will rewarded for diligence. “The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich” (Prov. 13:4).
The principle is true in our spiritual life too. Discipline in one area of our walk with God affects the whole. When someone misses church for a spell, it becomes easier to sleep in the next Sunday.When time in the Word is crowded out, prayer life is negatively impacted. And so it goes. The longer we allow slack discipline in our relationship with God, the harder it is to re-establish proper order.
Consequently, God encourages us to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness” (2 Tim. 2:15-16).
“Therefore, beloved, . . . be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation . . .. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Pet. 3:13-18).
I’m tired of interrupting my agenda to sweep and vacuum the floor, but when I slack off, it is quite evident because dust from sawing wood and small pieces of stripped wallpaper end up tracked through the house.
In other areas of my life, the lack of diligence isn’t obvious so quickly, but according to the Word, it’s important—especially that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s probably the area where it is easiest to slack off, but it’s also the most important.
If I can see the importance of diligence in sweeping the floor, how much more important is it in building a relationship with the Lord? That not only affects every area of life. It also brings Him glory “both now and forever (2 Pet. 3:18).”
Maintaining due diligence is in seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33) is a much more important and lofty goal than keeping trash from tracking through the house. But the need for wielding a broom helped me to see the damage done by not maintaining the lofty goal.