As most of you know, I have six kids. Three girls and three boys. And they’re really close in age- 14, 13, 11, 10, 8, and 6. The three girls are those middle numbers- 11, 10 and 8, and they get to share a room.
Just last week my husband came downstairs while I was working in my office and said, “Have you seen the girls’ room?”
And in my mind, I’m like- yeah, I live here. I’ve seen it a time or two.
And he said, “No, it’s a wreck. How did they get so much stuff?”
So, the two of us walk upstairs together and notice the condition of this room. The closet door wouldn’t even close, there was so much stuff piled in there. There was more stuff spilling out from under their beds. Not to mention the overflowing dressers and bookshelves in their room.
My husband told them they had two hours to clean it up, and he wanted at least half of it gone. Donated or thrown away.
I went to check on them about 15 minutes later, and they were sobbing. “We have to get rid of our stuff.” I really couldn’t be sympathetic… they had no room in their room, so I did the mom thing- I turned on their radio and told them it didn’t have to be a bad experience. Throw away the stuff that’s broken and the stuff you don’t use anymore and the clothes that don’t fit or are faded and gross and see what’s left.
About an hour later, they came downstairs with 6 trash bags filled! You heard that right, six. Two were for donations, and four were trash. SO MUCH STUFF.
Their room looked amazing. Like I actually wouldn’t mind sitting in there and hanging out. That night after dinner, my daughter told me, “You know it actually feels good to get rid of all that junk. Now I can actually enjoy my room and the things in it.”
But to get to that place, they had to submit to their dad, clean out their room, and surrender that stuff.
You know I can’t help but see the similarities between my girls struggling to submit their stuff to the dad like I struggle to submit my stuff to my heavenly Father.
I wonder if God looks at my life and thinks, Where did all this stuff come from? I didn’t give it to you? And then slowly starts the process of revealing to me my need to clean out my stuff so I can make more room for Him?
We all have areas… I mean we all struggle with our sin nature and want things our way from time to time. We like our comforts. We enjoy being in on the juicy gossip. We’re content mindlessly scrolling on our phone or spending too much time in front of the TV. We all have those areas of stuff in our lives. Oftentimes, we have to clear it out to make room to grow in our relationship with God.
But guys, not all stuff is bad. A few years ago, my husband told me he felt called to go back into the military as a chaplain. Ya’ll I clung to my stuff. We had this beautiful home. A thriving ministry. My husband was a youth and children’s pastor. Which meant I got to help him in both areas. I remember watching our elementary kids and joyfully looking forward to the next few years when they would be our Youth Group. I loved our church and the members who quickly became friends who quickly became family. I was not so willing to let go of this stuff.
But like a Good Father does, he drew me in and showed me this was truly His will. And through the process my relationship with God grew. As a result, I got to see the Lord use me and my family in ways we never could have done back home… we had to let go of some of our stuff… and really the way we thought life was going to look.
A hard lesson was learned, God does not call us to be comfortable with our stuff, He calls us into an ongoing relationship with him, being changed daily into the image of Christ. As Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We all live in this really broken world. And we try to fill that brokenness with worldly stuff, relationships, hobbies, careers, and so on. But it doesn’t fully satisfy. We just feel more broken. You see in the beginning God created all things and said they were good. When God created man, He created him uniquely in His image to be in relationship with Him. But he wanted man to choose to love him back, so he gave man free will. Sadly, with the choice to choose God comes the choice not to choose God… We know how this story goes. And, sin entered God’s perfect creation, separating us from God and causing all this brokenness we see around us. But God had a plan from the very beginning to redeem and restore all of creation. He sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, die a criminal’s death on a cross to take the “wage of sin” we all deserve. 3 days later he rose! Giving us all the hope of eternal life! He is THE way. He is the bridge back to a restored relationship with God.
For those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are saved! But we also have a mission to join God in His work and make disciples of all nations!
Yet, the reality is- we still live in this broken world. It is not going to be easy. We… I… have to trust God in this process. And trust Him with my… our kids! When He calls us to make difficult moves, trust that He is working it out for His glory.
He has to reveal to us our stuff, so we can be drawn into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with him. And with a solid relationship, we get to say yes to joining Him in His work to advance His kingdom here on earth.
So, friends, what is your stuff? What are you holding onto? Is it physical stuff? Emotional stuff? Comfort, dreams, hobbies, goals, relationships, traditions? What’s standing in the way of a deeper relationship with your Heavenly Father?
In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take his cross and follow me.” But did you know that Luke records it a little differently.
(Luke 14:27) And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me.”
We’ve see this to be true of the disciples Jesus called. Peter and Andrew immediately left their stuff… their nets.. their family business… and followed Jesus… daily. It wasn’t a one-time event. It was daily. Matthew left his tax collector booth…his job… his livelihood… and followed Jesus… daily.
Their lives were given new purpose that far outweighed the stuff they could have held onto in their former lives.
Was it easy- by no means! But were they blessed in the process- yes!
I pray we (all) open our hearts to fully letting go and surrendering our will to God’s will daily glorifying Jesus Christ, our Risen Savior. I pray we trust him with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. That we acknowledge him, and that He will make our paths straight. Amen!