Clean House

People's perceptions of what it means to clean house are not identical. Some people would be content with simply cleaning the surface without removing deep layers of grime. Others would feel things were clean if clutter was removed from sight even if it was shoved into a drawer. Then there are those who will devote hours of scrubbing, sorting, and disinfecting and still won't be satisfied with the results. It's our definitions of "clean" that vary and can cause conflict and confusion.

Submitting ourselves to God and asking Him to cleanse us doesn't involve a negotiable definition. We don't get to ask God to extricate us from messy situations, but leave us alone in the sinful habits we are comfortable holding on to. We cannot reserve the right to ask God to pull back on His personality and purification process. We either fully submit to Him or we don't submit at all. If all of God does all that God does, we can't surrender any less. This means that we have to be willing to surrender our mental focus, habits, words, relationships, attitude, aspirations, and behaviors.

If we're going to clean house for God we've got to deep clean the whole house by His standards and not our own.

Better Today

A French psychologist named Emile Coue was a proponent of a self-improvement theory that he called "optimistic autosuggestion." His belief was based upon the need to repeat a mantra each day to facilitate positive growth and self-esteem through influencing our unconscious thoughts. The repeated phrase was, "Each day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." Through practiced repetition this is intended to influence thought and promote holistic health gains.

I believe in the concept of getting better each day and in fact, relish the thought. While positive self-talk can make a difference in your attitude, just saying it doesn't create change. True daily growth requires discipline-even if it is revealed in small steps of faith and obedience. It is an understanding in God's ability to sanctify us and improve who we are as Christ-followers one day at a time.

I believe that tomorrow will be better than today and that I will be a better man as well. This isn't a new-age concept, but simple confidence in God's ability to transform and my willingness to see it happen.