What a mess! High waters carried along branches and debris, which were then caught in shrubs growing up between rocks out in the stream. Had the shrubs not grown up there, the mess would have been carried further downstream.
You’ve heard the saying that “misery loves company.” Well, so do a lot of other messy things! Our lives can gather a whole lot of detrimental clutter simply because we have not cleaned house in our hearts.
Paul wrote, “We…are being transformed into his likeness with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Yes, God is creating us anew, with a heart to know Him! But Paul also wrote these verses:
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice (Ephesians 4:31).
But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language (Colossians 3:8).
Paul is not alone in this call. Peter also writes, “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech” (1 Peter 2:1).
We are not to sit back and wait for God to fix us and all of our problems. If we were, Paul and Peter would not have included these instructions! We have a part to play in becoming who God wants us to be.
Finally, “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live” (Ephesians 4:30). Is God convicting you of something that’s in your heart? Ask Him to help you clean it up. At the end of each day, look back and see how you’re doing. Did you fall short in that area you’ve been working on? Talk to God about it, ask Him to forgive you, and work more on it tomorrow. It’s like exercise. It takes time to reach a goal, but it is well worth it in the end!
Lauri Hawley 