It’s time to get our house in order, folks. Let’s begin by cleaning out our rooms of all the stuff we’ve been accumulating - anything that does not bear fruit - anything that forces God and family out of our lives - anything that compromises our spirituality, mores, and values.
It’s time to simplify - to get back to the basics - to unclutter our lives, so we can do what God intended for us to do. Our world wants us to buy and be a part of its culture. It dictates the standards by which we are to live. The world tells us what is required to be like everyone else - you’ve got to have the latest in technology, the latest style of car, the big house, the trendiest clothes...
Yet as we’re pursuing these things, what are we truly getting? Are we getting something that truly satisfies and lasts? Isn’t it just things we’re getting? - and we’re spending our time doing it.
It’s time stop pursuing non-eternal things. We need to simplify, so we can spend time with what matters: God, family, friends, and spiritual life.
It’s time to get our house in order. We’ve got to get rid of the stuff crowding out what’s important. Let’s start today by clearing our heads, preparing our hearts, and praying for what God wants us to do with our time, our talents, and our gifts.
It’s time... to simplify.
Where do YOU focus? “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1:8
How do YOU help those in need? “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” Matthew 25:44-45
Where do YOU place your hope? “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Are YOU robbing God? “Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD Almighty. But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me.”
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:7-10
What treasures are YOU storing? “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
How do YOU give? “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.”
“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44
Have YOU been transformed? “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
Who do YOU serve? “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24
