Adam, like many other 8-year-olds, had a lot to learn when it came to cleaning his room. And his mother, Pam, was getting rather impatient at what she thought seemed like a slow learning process. This time, she had had enough.

“Adam,” Pam yelled. “This room is a mess… and I want it cleaned up before you go back out to play.”

“Okay, Mom,” Adam sighed as he put a few toys in his toy box. Then as Pam left the room he hurriedly crammed the remaining toys along with his dirty clothes under the bed and into the closet. ‘There,’ he thought as he glanced over the room. ‘Looks good to me.’

A few hours later as Pam was putting away clean clothes, she saw the huge pile of dirty laundry on her son’s closet floor. As she picked it up, she began to mutter to herself.

“That boy… will he ever learn? Sometimes I wonder if he even knows the meaning of the word ‘clean’.”

Then, just as she was about to call Adam in and scold him, she felt the Holy Spirit gently nudge her heart. “And sometimes God wonders if you know the meaning of the word ‘clean’ as well.”

“What?” She whispered in surprise.

“For years God has been speaking to you about cleaning up your life, yet you continue to live in sin,” She could almost hear the Holy Spirit respond.

“Oh… come on. I’m a good person. I live a good life. I even attend Sabbath School and Church every week,” came Pam’s reply.

“Is that right? Well, if that’s the case, then you wouldn’t mind if I looked into your closet, would you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well… let’s open the door to some of those secret sins and take a look. Sure… your life LOOKS good on the outside, but let’s take a quick look at the inside.”

“Huh!”

“I suggested we take a quick look into your heart,” Pam heard the still small voice say. “After all, we both know that’s what really matters.”

“You mean NOW?” Pam asked. “I’m really kind of busy…. can’t we do it another time?”

“There’s no time like the present…. hmmm…. let’s see, what do we have here? Looks like you have some very interesting hobbies.”

“Well, yes,” Pam responded. “But there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

“Not in itself, but when your hobbies begin to interfere with your prayer life, it’s a sign of danger. And from what I understand, you’ve been spending more time seeking the newest Beanie Babies than you have seeking the Lord!”

“Oh, come on…” came a defensive reply. “You know I only collect them for the kids!”

“Hmmmm…. REALLY? If that were the case, I’d think the kids would get to play with them occasionally. But…. no, they might damage the tags! Anyway, there’s a few other things in this closet that could use a good cleaning. What’s this?”

“Ohhh… that’s my video collection. Isn’t it great! I’ve got some great movies… don’t you think?”

“Oh, I wasn’t looking at the movies… I was just looking at the ratings! I don’t see a single movie recommended for General Audiences in this whole box!”

“Really? I hadn’t even noticed, but now that you mentioned it, they are mostly PG-13! But that doesn’t really mean anything… they’re not that bad.”

“Not how bad?”

“Well, they’re only rated PG-13 because of the language… they don’t contain nudity or anything!”

“No nudity, huh! That’s good, but what gives you the impression that God wants you sitting around listening to bad language?”

“I guess you’re right. He doesn’t! Maybe my closet does need some cleaning.”

“Just the closet? Or would you like to clean the whole house?”

“Let’s clean the whole house.” Pam said with a smile.

“And when we’re through, I’ll even help Adam clean his room!

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Cor 7:1 KJV

Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.

Thanks to Tidbits Devotional tidbits-request@mlists.net