Clean Cup Cleaning

The elegant dining room held a full wall of built-in cherry wood cabinets designed for a stunning array of fine china and silver; the interior lighting allowing the gold-rimmed dishes, silver bowls, and trays to shimmer and sparkle behind their glass doors. The display cabinets, tastefully carved table, and comfortable leather chairs all spoke of evenings of fine conversation and fine eating, so the offer of tea from the beautiful dishes was an invitation readily accepted and delightfully anticipated.

The pleasure of opening the sparkling glass doors, reaching to the top shelf to draw out two of the cups and saucers, the delight in the feel of the finely formed handles and smooth thin plates was

jarred into disgust and revulsion by the thick mold and crawling creatures inside what had seconds before been viewed as beautiful, elegant, desirable.

Matthew 23: 25 had just been brought into vivid focus.

Woe, unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Does your home or your living space make you feel like a hypocrite? What are your “withins” that conceal neglect, laziness, inefficiency, ignorance, or rebellion? What are your “outsides” that receive superficial attention to appear proper and acceptable in the public eye, but are full of corruption and disgust just beyond what is visible?

Spiritual Truths, House Cleaning Applications

Christ called for clean hearts in Matthew, not clean toilets. He was addressing superficially pious behavior that hid wicked and malevolent hearts, not six panel closets doors holding back an avalanche of out-of-season clothing. He was confronting high end behavior covering neglect of the soul, not high end stainless steel appliances covering years of  neglect on the kitchen floor. His concern was for a thorough, transparent cleansing of spirit from bottom to top, not homes scrubbed from basement to attic. BUT

if we have scoured our lives with His Word, and are clean from the inside out in our personal lives, should not the extensions of ourselves—our schedules, routines, and living environments also reflect the results of our attention to spiritual deep cleaning? And if our routines, schedules and living environments are “full of extortion and excess,” is it not likely that our spiritual environment is likewise lacking some of the thoroughness, consistency, and attention that would truly honor the Lord?

We embark today on a series of readings addressing cleaning and maintenance principles equally valuable to the cleaning and care stewardship of  both the heart indwelt by the Holy Spirit and the home dwelt in by ourselves but provided by the Lord for our needs and His ministry. Our homes, and the work done to preserve and improve them should be part of a balanced, consistent, and vibrant relationship with the Lord that has neither skeletons in the heart closet nor cobwebs in the house closet! Welcome to clean cup cleaning, where the inside and the hidden receives careful attention.