John 13:11 “For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”
1Corinthians 3:16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
1Corinthians 3:17 “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
We have company coming this week, a preacher friend from South Carolina and his dear wife are going to be spending three nights at our home and we are planning to do some fishing and fellowshipping.
Now my wife is a good house keeper and I help out to some small degree with the house cleaning chores, so anytime you come to our house it is reasonably clean.
We have a nice three bedroom home, but I take the smallest room for a study and so that leaves two bedrooms and of course one room is our bedroom and the other a guest room. Usually the folks that sleep in that room are our grandkids when they stay over for the night.
But this coming week our preacher friend and his wife will use the room. Now you might say, brother James what is the point of this?
The point my friend is that my wife is working herself and me to a frazzle as we say down south. The mattress has been turned, sheets washed, new bed spread and pillow cases. Oh and we even bought new pillows just for our friends to have a fine place to rest. The vacuum cleaner has been over the carpet at least twice and it is still four days before our friends are to arrive! Did I mention that a carpet cleaning crew will be here Monday?
I had to take the mini blinds out to the clothes line and wash them and even had to change one electrical receptacle, because it did not look just right to my wife!
There is a new comforter and sheets on our guest bed, and I even had to make some new legs for a small round table that sits by the bed, it had to be just the right height!
The bathrooms smell like bleach, because every lavatory and commode and shower has been bleached white! I wonder if I can use our bathroom while we await the arrival of our guest, four days from now?
We will be driving my truck to tow our boat and take us down to the river to fish and I have already received orders to clean it out and wash it real good.
She also wants the boat and the fish coolers etc. washed before they arrive!
I am writing this on Saturday and they are to arrive next Thursday and I have to be sure to cut grass on Monday so it will not look fresh cut on Thursday when they arrive! I will probably have to wash and wax the lawn mower to!
By the way my wife bought a thing that hangs on the wall and squirts some type of pleasant scent out every so many minutes, and makes the house smell nice. She yells to tell me every time it squirts? It does not take much to thrill some women.
She told me not to cook until they arrive next week so the kitchen will be spotless, I guess I will live on bologna meat sandwich for the next few days, but if I can manage to live through the next four days there will be then meals fit for a king on our dining table!
( Yes honey I am cleaning my study, sorry about that. She yelled to make sure I was working)
Uh oh, she caught me writing when I should have been cleaning my office, I guess the bruises will not show too bad and maybe they will fade before my preacher friend gets here! At least she did not get blood this time!
She just gave me a duster and walked out, I guess you know what I have to do before I finish this piece?
Ok, I am back now, the study is dusted.
Did I tell you that I have to wash the back windows before next Wednesday? We have a sun room on the back of our house and I have to clean the glass inside and out, that is about over 800 square feet of glass.
By the way if you stop by our home before next Thursday, pull your shoes off at the door, it would be dangerous to track in a grain of sand right now! I don’t think she is Rabid, but even so bites about the ankle are pretty painful.
I almost forgot, I have to paint the back door!
( Yes Honey I am working, and yes I remember I have to scrub the car port concrete!
What ?
Oh yea, I will be sure to rake the drive way gravel and leaved all the rake marks in the correct direction! You said what? You want me to park my truck across the road for the next four days?
Yes Dear, but remember I have trouble walking with my disability, OH, OK I will crawl then.)
Now where were we?
Some of you may know that I have a bad back and so much so that I have been on permanent Social Security disability for three years. This is about the only time I can honestly say I am glad for the bad back, but my step son is the one that gets caught in her web now. He and his youngest son, age four came over this morning and she had him up and down the ladder to the attic , I am telling you folks my wife is in a frenzy to have this house perfect before our friends get here!
Now I hope you realize that I have taken a little liberty with the truth with this story, I don’t have but two small bruises. LOL
But I agree with her on making certain everything is clean for our friends visit, but the thought that prompted this short peace is simply that I started to think of just how clean our lives are as we await the coming of our Lord?
It seems that in today’s Christian world that clean living is a thing of the past. If we would stop and look at the folks that claim Christ, I have to wonder how the world can tell we are Christians, if we act, look and dress just as they do.
But then what of these scripture?
Leviticus 20:7 “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.”
The word, sanctify means clean.
Leviticus 11:44 “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy.”
Leviticus 19:2 “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.”
Again and again the Old Testament gives us God’s Word about living a clean and separated life from the world. But when I look at the church today it is hard to see any difference in the membership of the church and those that live around us and claim no relationship with the Lord!
The New Testament teaches that the children of God, the church, should be clean and holy!
1Peter 1:15 – 16 “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
As I worked on this piece I continued to have one though run though my mind, am I as concerned about keeping God’s temple clean as I am having a clean house for my visiting friends?
Exodus 3:5 “And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
Is your house clean and ready for the Lord’s return?
James Avery jamesaveryfwb@embarqmail.com