What is your attic like? Your garden shed?
That press where you put things you can't bear to throw out
because one day you might need them.
Last August we spent the best part of a day clearing out the garden shed
Hard work but what a wonderful feeling to get rid of so much rubbish;
how good to let go of good stuff to a charity shop
how good to catch myself on and recognise that odd bits of scrap iron
will not come in useful and should be scrapped
And yet, a couple of months later and it's filling up again ...
How is it in the attics and cupboards and sheds of our inner life, our hearts?

Here's a thing I came across recently about
SPRING CLEANING FOR THE HEART
There comes a time
when we must clean out the cupboards of our life and heart
so that we may have room for items that will enhance our life.
Let's search the cupboards of our lives and make a trip to the wastebasket.
Throw away any hatred that may be lurking there and be sure to toss
jealousy, bad attitudes, dishonesty, complaints, sin, and hypocrisy.
And don't forget to grab that pride
that has been sitting in the corner and rotting.
You've been holding on to it for too long, and it has been blocking blessings.

Before you finish,
throw away that grudge you have been holding against someone.
There's room now to add love, honesty, forgiveness and kindness
- not to mention thankfulness for all of God's blessings.
Go on and make room for reverence and respect to God
from whom all good and perfect gifts come.

Stand back and look: Your life's storage space is looking better, isn't it?
Take a moment today to do a little spring cleaning in your heart.
Ask God to come in and if He finds anything else that shouldn't be there,
take it out so that you can live holy and right!


That is such wise and positive advice.
It isn't just about getting rid of bad stuff
it is about love, honesty, forgiveness and kindness
- not to mention thankfulness for all of God's blessings
making room for reverence and respect to God
from whom all good and perfect gifts come.
Not a bad version of Colossians 3.5-17

Or put it this way, isn't it all about 'practising the presence of God'
Keep asking the question: where is Jesus?
Does what I do enhance my friendship with him
or does it distract from it and grieve him at worst?

Sometimes I wonder (foolishly) if it wouldn't be better
if the Bible had a list of things we should never do
or things that were all right to do
and we would always be able to check off if we were pleasing God
e.g if we could be told how many hours of TV we should watch
or if the Moderator of the General Assembly would send us a note
or which programmes were OK and which not
and then we would know if we were being pure
But it's not like that, is it?
What may be all right for one person may be all wrong for another
or right at one time and wrong at another.
Reading the paper for example
a harmless everyday activity keeps us in touch with world events etc
but supposing I read the paper when I should be preparing my sermon?
Supposing I read the paper when I should be talking to my wife and children?
Suppose I read the paper mindlessly taking in everything it says?
Constantly we need to practice the presence of God.
Ask the questions What would Jesus do?
What does Jesus say? Or even What do you think about this, Jesus?
Or ask yourself questions: Who are you doing this for? Will this please Jesus?
Maybe it will and you will sense his smile of approval
be it small things like going for a walk reading the paper, watching telly,
or bigger things like applying for a job, proposing in marriage, planning a move
God is not a kill joy but he sees into our hearts
and he wants us to be clear about what's in our hearts
to get rid of the rubbish and to have only what enhances a friendship with him
and clear good relationships with others

Here is what someone wrote honestly
about his own struggles with sexual temptation:
'Most of our arguments for purity are negative arguments:
be pure or you will feel guilty or your marriage will fail or you will be punished.
But the Beatitudes clearly indicate a positive argument
that fits neatly with the Bible's pattern in describing sins
Sins are not a list of petty irritations drawn up for the sake of a jealous God.
They are rather a description of the impediments to spiritual growth.
We are the ones who suffer if we sin
by forfeiting the development of character and Christlikeness
that would have resulted if we had not sinned.
... by continuing to harbour lust I was limiting my own intimacy with God.'

There's one for the temptations of the internet
or the top shelf of the newsagents
Ask yourself not even 'Will I get caught, will I get divorced, will I get addicted '
but practise the presence: what does Jesus think?
Do those images, those fantasies limit my friendship with him?
Can I continue in that kind of behaviour
and really look forward one day to look him in the eye?
Can I say that his smile of blessing is upon me today?

There is no better way to be and to remain pure
than to refresh ourselves in the reality of a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
'If then you have been raised with Christ
set your hearts on things above
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above not on earthly things.
for you died and your life is now hid with Christ in God.'
That means that we keep looking to
not what we have been, alienated from God and each other, sinful
but to what we shall be and what we now are -- alive in Christ!
And because we have this new status in Christ
as we keep focused on him we are able to live as people pure in heart
focused on him by faith, looking forward to seeing him completely and purely

The heart is more than the pump that keeps the body working
it is more than that which goes 'bump'
when boy meets glamorous girl or girl meets hunky boy
the heart is the essential "me", the command centre
Proverbs 4:23: "Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life"
To be pure in heart does not mean that
we are clean of every stain of sin, morally perfect.
None of us can expect that degree of perfection in this life
But purity of heart stands for single-mindedness and sincerity
'a passionate aspiration towards the holiness of God' (W Temple)
It means that what you want, what you really, really want is to please God
and to be sure of his smile of approval on your life
that you can so to speak take him even into the attics or the basements
where you keep your rubbish and his presence will make it clean.

And if you think you have too much rubbish, don't despair:
The Methodist preacher Wm Sangster once met a "backslider",
a man who had once been a well regarded Christian
but was now 'down and out' spiritually and socially
"I know I'm in gutter, tell me I don't belong there"
By getting the man to look again to Jesus
and to the hope of being pure in his presence
this man was able to take the first steps out of the gutter towards glory.
Isn't that the gospel reality?
We don't belong in the gutter, we are God's holy people
and therefore called to constant comprehensive all round all time rooting out
of anything that defiles, distracts, degrades

Write down (for your private use) your rubbish
things you do or think which stop you
having a clear friendship with God and with other people
Use Colossians 3.5-14 as a check list of things
to have less of or more of in your life.
Keep it somewhere private
and check in a month's time to see how you are doing.
And ask Jesus to help you!

Lord, only the pure in heart shall see you
but thank you as we look to Jesus as we set our minds on things above
then we are able to deal with the dark distractions hidden away in our lives.
Set the reality of Jesus Christ before each of us
the reality of being your children through faith in Jesus
the reality of one day seeing Christ as he truly is
that we shall only want to be like him more and more.
Here and now we name even one bit of rubbish before you
and we ask that looking to Jesus we can deal with it
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,
and as you sing praise with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.