OnFire #81 Sweeping Out the Corners

My mother cleans for a living. She has been on the housekeeping staff of the hospital in Summerside, PEI, since I was a young teen. At one time she not only cleaned at the hospital, but she also cleaned a number of houses for families in the area. She knows clean. I have often heard her say that anyone can make it look good, but if you really want to know how clean a room is, check the corners.

I know its true. Its easy to swish the broom around to catch the big stuff. It takes more time to reach into the corners. When company is coming, we rush around to pull the house together. We want it to look good, but we know that in the short time that our visitors are with us they probably won't look in the oven (where the dirty pots and pans are) or check the bedrooms (where we've stuffed things until we can properly store them).

This is a lot like character. Its not hard to look good, especially if we have been in church circles for any amount of time. We know what is acceptable or not. We know the things not to do or say, or the places not to go. The hard work begins when we go after the dirt in the corners and hidden areas of our lives.

Here are the problems I find in cleaning out the corners. Laziness - I don't want to do the hard work. Complacency - do these little things really matter? Pride - no one will find out anyway. Shame - I know they are wrong and I try to cover them. Stubbornness - I don't really want to give them up.

Daniel provides the model for us again. "At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent." (Daniel 6:4 NIV)

When Daniel was about to be appointed as a chief administrator, there were those who didn't think he should have the position so they began to dig around in his past. They thought it was just a matter of time before they would have something they could hold over him. Perhaps a little political blackmail, then the mud-slinging, and finally he would be humiliated. Isn't it interesting that political ambition has not changed over the years?

Try as they might, they could find nothing. Not that it was so well hidden, but because there was nothing to find. Is that true in our lives? It has been said that character is who we are when no one is looking. What would people see if we thought they couldn't? A test of character is whether we are comfortable with someone peeking into the corners of our lives. Are we afraid of what they will find? We need to let God sweep those corners clean so that our conscience and our character is clean.

I hope this helps. Be On Fire.

Troy