As springtime quickly approaches, you may be sitting down to put together your spring-cleaning list. While you may have plans on cleaning the forgotten surfaces in your home, it’s important that you also take this opportunity to spend some time decluttering your soul. There are things that all of us are packing around in the forgotten recesses of our inner being that we can lay down. Getting rid of those unneeded pieces of baggage can help you live a life of true freedom in Christ.
As the dreary lull of wintertime quickly gives way to spring, most of us start compiling our list of things we need to get done around our homes. Perhaps your spring-cleaning list is mostly focused on the inside. You probably have some surfaces in your home that most people don’t see, and you need to knock off a layer of dust. Perhaps you plan on going through some closets, your basement, or your garage and getting rid of some of the clutter that you’ve accumulated over the course of the last year. Don’t feel bad. Most of us have things inside our home that we need to tidy up, and spring is the perfect time to do so.
While you’re compiling your to-do list for spring, there is another area that you should consider. No, it’s not the bookshelf that sits in the extra bedroom that you converted into an office. It’s not the attic where you’ve been stuffing Christmas decorations and every other extra item that you’ve picked up along the way. Instead, this area is inside you, and it’s a surface that you and the Holy Spirt will need to work together on this spring.
Spring-cleaning for the soul doesn’t have to be reserved for a particular time of year. In fact, we should constantly be looking for ways to declutter our spirit so we can fully embrace everything that God has for us. However, since our minds are on decluttering, dusting, tidying up, and getting things into better condition, our thoughts should also turn inward during this season. If you’re not sure where to start with your to-do list for spring cleaning your soul, consider looking at these areas. Doing so can allow you to experience God’s deliverance and His freedom from the things that are holding you back.
What is Clutter?
Hebrews 12:1 (TPT)
As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for hte path has already been marked out before us.
Have you ever taken the time to look around your home and realize how much stuff you have accumulated? Unless you have fully embraced life as a minimalist, you probably have more items laying around your home than you care to think about. Most of us have stuffed items into closets, basements, attics, garages, and every other space that we can think about. Sure, we may plan on pulling those items back out some time in the future, but for most of us, that day never comes. Instead, we simply get more stuff, and the process repeats itself. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this cycle. If you have the means to purchase items or people give you gifts, it’s not wrong to get things. But this serves as a powerful example of what happens to our souls.
Everything that we go through adds clutter to our souls. When a friend betrays you, you lose a family member to illness, or something else negative happens in our lives, the pain that those events cause burrows into our souls. While we may try to stuff it in the back like we do with the ugly sweater that someone bought us for Christmas, its long-term presence can be incredibly damaging.
That’s why the writer of Hebrews said that we should look for ways to lay aside every weight that would hold us back and every sin that would trip us up as we try to run the marathon of life. In the same way that you’re looking to declutter your home this spring, spend some time in prayer, Scripture, and with the Holy Spirit in an effort to identify the clutter in your life. When you identify what needs to go, you can make more space for the good things that God wants to pour into you.
Where is Your Treasure?
Matthew 6:19-21 (TPT)
“Don’t keep hoarding up for yourselves earthly treasures that can be stolen by thieves. Material wealth eventually rusts, decays, and loses its value. Instead, stockpile heavenly treasures for yourselves that cannot be stolen and will never rust, decay, or lose their value. For your heart will always pursue what you value as your treasure.”
We live in a society that teaches us, “In stuff we trust.” All of us love the idea of having more. That’s why we work long hours, run up credit card debt, and do everything we can to have more than the person who lives down the street. Unfortunately, that desire is often indicative of a much larger issue, one that you should take a look at during your spiritual spring cleaning.
What matters most to you in the world? At the top of your priority list, you may name your relationship with God, your family, your friends, and any other number of things. However, if you took a look at your actions, do those actions mirror that list?
Spend some time carefully examining where your treasures really are. If they’re a bit skewed, take heart. God is not angry at you. He isn’t looking for a reason to give up on you. Instead, He has brought you to this place so that you could carefully examine your priorities. Let your spring cleaning of the soul include a careful look at where you really have your treasures at.
Suring Up the Security of the Soul
John 10:10 (TPT)
A thief has only one thing in mind-he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect-life in its fullness until you overflow.
When we use the term “security,” we often think of the systems that most of us have in place to deter any burglars, vandals, or other unwanted intruders. But since we’re talking about spring cleaning the soul, the need for security goes much deeper.
Make no mistake about it, you have an enemy who wants to infiltrate the very innermost being of who you are. Satan, our adversary, is described in Scripture as a roaring lion looking for someone who he can devour (1 Peter 5:8). Obviously, Satan doesn’t just walk up to you and push his way into your soul. Instead, he seeks to gain entry through the things that we often pick up along the way.
One of the most powerful tools that Satan has at his disposal is the ability to distract us from the things that really matter. We know that we should be focused on the Kingdom of God, seeing the lost saved, and loving the people around us with the same love that God has for us. Unfortunately, we get distracted by things that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of eternity.
As the final phase of your spiritual spring cleaning, spend some time identifying the things that are distracting you. Is it anger, bitterness, or another negative emotion? Perhaps its technology, social media, or some other natural distraction. Whatever it is, remove those distractions today.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me the ability to identify areas in my life where I need to remove some clutter. I know that I won’t be able to do it on my own, so I’m asking for Your help. Show me areas where I can get rid of things that didn’t come from You so I can have more space for the things that do. In Christ’s name, Amen.