“The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.” Luke 11:34 NKJV
We are currently preparing to sell our house. Something that we have done over the years, is either donating or gifting items that we no longer need or use to those who will. We believe that we have been very good in this practice. However, after living in this house for approximately 20 years, we have found that we are also very good at tucking items away into various corners of our house. It turns out that we have a lot of work to do in a very short time!
I have never loved the idea of moving and as I look around our house and see all that needs to be packed, donated, or sold off, I begin to feel overwhelmed. It is with our eyes that we see and then our thoughts will follow – good or bad. Though at first glance, by us or others, our house appears to have very little ‘darkness’ or items that need to be removed. But as we begin to search within the corners and closets of our house, we are finding that so much needs to be dealt with.
The same goes for our lives. We are to exhibit light to all people in all circumstances. But the only way we can do that is by going through and examining all areas of our lives and removing all the darkness and that which prevents our light from shining.
May our lives not be like our current house; only being ‘cleaned out of its darkness’ every 20 years. Rather, may we do this daily.
Lock Your Wings 
Hilarious! I guess we have the same thing going through our minds because I had the same thoughts when I read this verse:
“Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.”
Luke 11:39-41 NLT
The outward appearance of our home would appear clean but there are many hidden places where clutter and items lurk unused and unnecessary. As we’ve purged we have been able to give items away for others to make use of them instead of sitting idle in our home. We’ve accumulated so much stuff (paying good money to have items unused!) that it’s a good reminder to keep the hidden parts of our homes (and lives) free from clutter. My our insides match our outsides.
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