I got to cleaning my house today. You know, the January cleanup, when you go through the house packing up the holiday season for yet another year?
After wrapping the ornaments in tissue paper, I looked for every festive trinket I could find to pack away. I swept the floors. I even looked under the couch to make sure I didn’t miss a single one.
I want space. I need room to bring my bookshelf back into the living room and my topiary trees back where they belong. I want the counters clear and clean. I need to make room for the beautiful gifts my husband bought me for Christmas. And, if I ever hope to find room for my Appletree dishes, I’ll need to declutter a space here and there.
I wonder sometime if all of this clutter is God’s way of showing us how important it is to make room. How vital it is to put off our old selves before we put on the new.
Looking back at our first year of marriage I wasn’t all that great at clearing out space. Groceries came in, they went into the fridge, and unfortunately they stayed in the fridge, until the stench of the food told me that it was time to grow up and clean up.
Likewise, some of us need to grow up, and clean up, when it comes to our faith. Out with the old life, in with the new. Put off the former self you’re still hanging onto. Make room for the Savior to live and to move in your life. Open yourself up to His leading. Fill yourself with His Wisdom. Immerse yourself in His Word…
But here’s the thing, we need to let go of sin. We need to step away from anything that’s standing in the way of our faith, including the sin we’re still holding onto. Uncontrolled anger, the jealousy we’re allowing to grow, the lies that we tell, a drunken night here and there… How can we hope to be victorious if we’re not walking in the light?
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Tilling the Soil
Read Ephesians 4:17-32.
Planting Hope
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV)
Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
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Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife