Surface clean or deep clean?

Ever feel like you've been cleaning house forever?? Like you've been working your tushy off and the house should be spotless?

I spent much of the week working on switching furniture around, reorganizing, and ridding ourselves of some unnecessary junk. Which made me feel like my house should be pretty clean by now!

All it takes is one visitor for you to realize that your house really isn't all that great though. My sister flew into town today, and although we had scurried around trying to clean things up before she came, I realized afresh after she arrived how much dirt was beneath the surface. I knew we had a few piles here and there, but was actually embarrassed when she picked up a picture frame to look a little closer and had to wipe away the dust. Whoops. Forgot to dust.

As I looked closely at my house, I realized I hadn't mopped the floor. There are pencil marks on the walls and I missed wiping the counter behind the toaster where the crumbs tend to fall.

I know myself well. I'll never have a perfect house. And that's fine with me. But as I sit here tonight and take stock of the state of my house, I can't help but realize that I should be taking stock of my life too.

It's easy for me to surface clean my life. It's easy to act nicely in public, to say the appropriate things and even to do good works. But what dirt is lurking under the surface? Greed, anger, self-love? If I truly want to "clean house" in my life, I can't just look at the surface level. Because I have a permanent guest in my home - the Lord Jesus Christ. And He sees the dirt. All of it. I can't hide it from him and neither does He allow me to really forget that it's there. I'm thankful that He forgives me for the dirt (sin) in my house (life), but knowing that I am forgiven should not be an excuse to leave the dirt. It should spur me on to clean up.

So tonight as I look at my house and at my life, I ask myself, where should I start? What is the dirtiest place? And I pray that I'll have eyes to see what needs to be cleaned.