Monday, March 16, 2009

On the Inside

What is inside my refrigerator?

Interestingly, each day I open the frig, take something out or put something in it, but I don’t really look at what is inside. I store left over in the plastic containers. Then I forget what is inside those containers. Liquids spill. And I don’t know how food seems to get out of the containers, but it does. Has anyone figured it out? I just ignore it and go on about my business. Until—the mess becomes too obvious or someone is coming over.

I do not have a regular schedule to clean out my refrigerator. I try to clean it out before I go grocery shopping so it will be clean when I fill it back up. But life happens and my best plans fail to come to pass. Therefore, the mess increases gradually until I must deal with it.

That’s what my life seems to be like as well. Issues creep up in my life that I ignore until it becomes too obvious. Those issues become obvious when I start wanting to straighten out other people in my life. One sure sign for me that the Lord is dealing with me on an issue is when I start pointing the finger at someone else. I need the cleaning out.

Another sign I need a cleaning out is I become easily frustrated with situations that won’t matter next week. If my husband forgot to do something he said he would do and I become so angry with him we have strife all day, that’s a sign my inside needs to be cleaned out.

Just like my refrigerator needs to be cleaned out on regular intervals, I need to check my inner self. True beauty is a result of what is on the inside.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. (1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV)

Let’s clean out the inside allowing the Lord to remove sin from our lives through conviction and confession. Let’s throw out the nasty leftovers and fill ourselves up with the inner beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.

Engrafted by His Grace--

4 gracious comments:

annette said...

You pegged both my refrigerator and my soul. I asked God this morning to cleanse me yet again from all the impurities within. Good allegory--convicting, yet filled with hope. Love, Annette

Leigh Anne said...

Are you talking about me. Frig and all. We do need regular clean ups. Like you, when my finger points it end up pointing right back at me. Great post.

Cherdecor said...

After reading this, all I could think of was my dirty oven. It is self cleaning but I never use it because I don't like the smell with which it fills the house. As soon as I am up to it though, I am going to get er done!

About the soul business, I have a self cleaning knob on it too. I can just confess and Voila! Or like the oven, I can confess and scrub and work it out instead of using the self cleaning button.
Ha! Ha! I like this analogy! We could go on and on here.

I was studying the Experiencing God tapes today and one young man asked the question, "How can I die to self? I try but I end up doing it again."
Blackaby said that character takes time.

Lisa Smith said...

Did you read my blog last week? We were both cleaning the same stuff!!!