Time for Spring Cleaning
Time for Spring Cleaning
By Pastor John Dawson
As I write this, we are still in the grip of winter. Winter is a time when we layer up and hunker down. Some of us love winter—may you enjoy it while it lasts. I don’t appreciate the storms (and the outages and cancelations that they bring). I am looking forward to spring. In spring the windows open to let in fresh fragrant breezes. They, in turn, blow out the dusty, musty air that had stayed cooped up all winter. Then comes time to sort through things that are no longer useful, or repair and revive things that are but have fallen out of use. That, at least, is the tradition of spring cleaning around the house.
The Church has also had a tradition of spiritual spring cleaning. It is a time of pausing, reflecting, repenting, and paying renewed attention to the things of the Lord. We want to think that we are always on top of our lives in all areas, but we know that is not true. We get into various ruts. We may omit and neglect important things in diet, exercise, finance, sleep, and devotion. We need to take inventory on these things from time to time. It is good to have the rhythm of the seasons to wake us up from time to time. Spring is a good time for that.
There is an old English word for spring. It is lencten. In sounds like lengthen and that is what it meant. Lencten (spring) was the time when the short days of winter began to noticeably lengthen. From it comes the season of the traditional church year called Lent. The purpose of Lent is not to give up something as much as it is a seasonal reminder to do some spiritual spring cleaning. It is good to schedule special time of prayer and reflection. When was the last time you took spiritual inventory? How have your daily devotions been? Have you regularly had them? Are they refreshing your love for the Lord Jesus and your relationship with your Savior? What about the service aspect of your life? Are you doing the things you feel called to do which show love to your neighbor? You have been getting reports from our missionaries, and you have been praying for them. How long has it been since you communicated some encouragement to them? These are some of the questions you may want to ask yourself in order to check on your spiritual health.
It does take time to do this. Here is where some giving up is not only appropriate, but needful. Are there things that you are doing that are not profitable? Of course, things that are sinful are actually harmful and should always be given up. But there are things that may be useful in their own way, but become harmful when they take too large a bite out of your time. They become the enemy of the good and the best just because they take up too much time and push out the things that are most profitable. For me, screens fall into this category. There are things on our phone screens, computer screens and TV screens that produce lust, anger, greed, and other sins. These must be avoided. But even the neutral and innocent stories and images can lure us and trap us. I’ve heard it called doom scrolling (or death scrolling). The purpose of the platform you are on is to keep you there. This is a problem when you really should be somewhere else. Put it this way: was that what you had hoped would happen in the last hour? Was it part of your plan as you thought of loving and serving the Lord that day?
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2). I hope you join me in setting some time aside for spiritual spring cleaning, may it bring renewal and greater joy when we celebrate the resurrection together on Easter Sunday.
Pastor John