Spring cleaning.
You can't get real about cleaning without getting real about the mess.
You have to expose the junk and dirt to get rid of it.
As Christians, sometimes we neglect the real cleaning.
We clear the surface; add good things;
but avoid clearing and throwing away things that need to go.
In Ezekiel 36 and 37, God is sending His people a message about the New Covenant to come.
Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.
God tells of the beautiful change and unity He will bring to His people, and He describes their actions from this change.
Ezekiel 37:23
They will stop polluting themselves with their detestable idols and other sins, for I will save them from their sinful backsliding. I will cleanse them. They will truly be my people, and I will be their God.
As we choose to belong to Him, to worship Him alone, we have to let go of the junk inside.
He does the work of cleansing and renewing. He replaces our stony heart.
But if we are so content; so lazy; so selfish
that we won't let go, the stone won't budge.
Until that stony heart is gone, there's no place for an obedient heart.
Roll that stone away!'
Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1b
"Jesus,
Just as the grave was opened
and life for all broke through,
LORD,
remove the stone from my heart!
Give me life!
Remove the death and the sin.
Roll the stone away!
Amen."
Luke 24:1-8
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.
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