Sweeping Under the Bookshelves of Your Heart

The people who built my house fitted the floors with wood in the living room, dining room, and hallway, and laminate in the kitchen. Due to the amount of food eaten in my house on-the-go, I sweep a couple times a day, especially around our kitchen table and the kids’ little table.

Sometimes when I sweep, I marvel at the amount of crumbs I find. I can barely contain my disgust at the dust-pan as I pour the offending particles into the garbage can. I wonder what the floors would look like if I swept a couple times a week instead of a couple times a day. Our socks would slowly turn a horrifying shade of brown, and any guests who visit would probably come back next time in a hazmat suit, or at least request to keep on their shoes. If I never swept, I wouldn’t know how nice the floors could look or what crept underneath our bookshelves. Sweeping the house reveals all sorts of interesting things about our habits.

As I swept today, I considered how my dirty floors reflect the state of my heart. That might sound odd, so please bear with me as I explain.

Sin affects our hearts the way crumbs affect the floor in our living spaces. When we’re not watchful, sin creeps in and litters the floor. We don’t notice the build-up of thoughts, motives, and actions that lead to strained relationships and feeling far from the Lord. Sin likes to hide under the bookshelves of our hearts, those dark and forgotten about places, deceiving us into thinking we’re fine when in fact we’re harboring guilt, anger, bitterness, and shame. These unresolved emotions and the thoughts and actions they lead to subtly shift our thinking until we struggle to recognize the difference between God’s good and beautiful truth, and the ugly lies of the world. Sin thrives when we let down our guard and fail to rely on the mercy and grace of God.

My heart begins to stray from the Lord when I begin to believe I’m okay. I’m okay, everything is going fine, and I can handle things on my own, thankyouverymuch. This attitude leads me to slowly, but surely, let down my guard, the part of me that keeps watch over the thoughts and motives of my heart. I don’t see the intrepid crumbs or even the small dust particles building up under those bookshelves.

We keep watch over our hearts by knowing and understanding what circumstances and emotions lead us to sin and temptation. God knows how to untangle the hidden thoughts of our hearts lurking in those secret places. He understands how our emotions can pile up into one giant, confusing mass that threatens to drown out the refrain of His good and faithful promises in our lives. We must strive to sort through our feelings and then bring those emotions to God, full of trust that He knows exactly to what to do with them. Sometimes we can avoid the circumstances that lead us to temptation, but if we cannot, and even if we can, we must keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus because only He can save us. [1] First Peter 5:8 exhorts us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

God knows to sweep under the bookshelves of our hearts. He sees our sins even when we do not–we cannot hide anything from Him. [2] He leaves no area to fester in the darkness. He mercifully disturbs every cob-webbed corner, and pulls away every wayward crumb. God also knows how to sweep under the bookshelves of our hearts. He graciously sweeps away the sin in us a little at a time as He gently and patiently shows us how to keep the crumbs from falling in the first place. And praise God for not doing all His cleaning at once! If He did, we would feel overwhelmed by the amount of sin residing in the dark places of our souls.

God gives us what we need to keep sin from gaining a further foothold in our hearts. As His chosen and beloved people, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to comfort us and guide us every moment of every day. [3] The Holy Spirit gives us understanding as we read God’s Word and patiently and consistently shows us how the gospel applies to every area of our lives. [4] We cannot forget about the power the Holy Spirit provides every believer to fight temptation and defeat selfish desires and harmful thought patterns. When we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, He softens our hearts so we can stop momentary sinful thoughts before they turn into rolling, stampeding, full-fledged sinful actions taking control of every inch of the floors of our hearts.

We keep our floors looking bright and clean by sweeping them often and sweeping every part of them, even the scary, cobweb-filled sections under the bookshelves. Likewise, God sanctifies us as we pray for Him to show us our sin and repent when He reveals our sin to us. We keep watch over our thoughts and habits and remain sober-minded. We can rely on the Holy Spirit to shape us into people becoming more and more like Jesus. We will never be fully free from sin in this life, but we can trust God to sanctify us and keep us in His hands until that glorious day when we meet Him face-to-face, shining, new, and never to be dirty again!

[1] John 14:6
[2] 1 Chronicles 28:9
[3] Acts 9:31
[4] John 16:13