The Clutter in Our Life

My email app has this folder called “Junk” and it is supposed to be a filter to catch unwanted or possibly even harmful phishing emails. Yours may have a “spam” folder, or something similar. And with multiple email accounts, these “junk” folders fill up pretty quick. So I spent some time going through my junk folder, and deleted them all. I also decluttered the other folders and the sent files. These emails just hang around taking up space and do very little but, well, clutter up my email folders.

This weekend, Lisa and I were very productive in doing a little decluttering in our lives. Closets, storage unit, junk drawers, and the apartment as a whole. I mean, how does all that junk end up in the junk drawer. Now, I won’t even discuss Calvin’s room … I will just leave that to ones’ imagination. But he’s more our roommate than our dependent now, so I just let him take care of that (Lisa though is always the mom and cleans for him – spoiled, entitled brat – jk, kind of).

These processes challenged me with two thoughts …

First is that we should make sure we have no clutter entangling us. 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 ... (Hebrews 12.1, ESV). We too often settle for the good when we should strive for the best. The key to this verse is to run the race before us. And to do this, we need to lay aside, cast off, remove, avoid, clean out every thing that would prevent us from running our best.

It felt good, almost freeing, to clean up and get rid of the clutter. There is a freshness to it. And it is the same with our journey with Christ. As we focus on Him, keeping our eyes on Him, and not getting distracted by the fears, the burdens, the baggage of this world, there is a freedom.

But there is a second challenge that came to me. In the junk, in the midst of the clutter, there are some important things that do not need to be thrown aside or dismissed. In my case this weekend – important emails, items that had long been counted as lost but were just buried in the clutter. Like the seed growing among thorns and being choked out (Mark 4), the clutter needs to be eliminated – the thorny weeds need to pulled up and destroyed. Just make sure you don’t destroy the plant that is designed to produce good fruit. In modern terms, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. (Have you ever wondered who first used this phrase? Did they actually throw out a baby with the bath water? I mean who would have even thought that was an issue? Oh well.)

So, what clutter needs to be cleaned out in your life? What needs to be laid aside? Will you do it?

And so run – run with freedom – run with joy – run and experience what God has for you.

Run.

Run.

Note … picture is not my storage but from an article from the NY state government to help people deal with dangerously cluttered storage. See article here.