For two months, I’ve been involved in cleaning out “stuff.” I’ve discovered that I’m more sentimental than I realized. Things connected with a special person or fond memory are hard to part with. In addition, I’m surprised by how many things I want to keep simply because I like them. Or maybe “I might need it” someday. Some things I’m not ready to part with things even though they are useless to me now.
It doesn’t matter whether it is pictures, papers, knickknacks, or kitchen items, if I don’t need them and won’t use them, they’re clutter. Superfluous stuff distracts me from my goals—much less God’s goals for me.
While going through a box this week, I realized I live with clutter in the spiritual realm too. I enjoy keeping up with friends through social media, but I also let it distract me when I need to be doing something else. I occasionally seek diversion in electronic games when tired and discouraged. I would gain much more by dipping into the Psalms or sitting quietly before God. There’s sports, entertainment, even food, and more. Those things are not necessarily bad, but it’s easy to let them clutter daily life and distract from goals and purposes.
We’re told to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33), and to love God with all our being (Mt. 22:37). We know that we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Why keep “stuff” that doesn’t help reach those goals?
I don’t believe we need to throw out everything that isn’t “necessary” or “spiritual.” However, after going through boxes, closets, and drawers that haven’t been organized lately—much less cleaned out—I’m aware that I need to stop, make assessments, and de-clutter more often—in my spiritual life as well as the physical. When I don’t make conscious choices about what rules my life, clutter grows, and it can quickly create distraction and unbalance in my life.
More than once, as I’ve sat down to have time with the Lord, I’ve quickly checked my e-mail to see if I got a response from somebody. Then, I suddenly realize an hour passed and I still haven’t opened my Bible. That is “stuff” out of control.
If I truly want to seek first the kingdom of God, I need to be purposeful about it. If I want to love God more, I need to get rid of the stuff that interferes with that goal—even if it’s “good stuff” and even if it’s hard to turn it loose.
Clutter is dangerous because it blocks us from experiencing the full salvation of the Lord in our daily lives and from reaching our full potential. It’s easy to get so comfortable with our clutter that we don’t see the danger it presents.
“Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21).