Blog by Pastor Marleis Scharfe
I don’t know about you, but I am NOT A LIGHT PACKER! I’ve tried, but every time I travel, I load that suitcase to the brim and to the absolute frustration of my husband, I pack till the zipper begins to break down. For a 3 day trip, you just never know which shoes you’ll feel to wear on a particular day…. so it makes sense to pack 8 pairs – right?
As a result my case is always super heavy, I am the one at the check in at the airport removing things from my case in front of EVERYONE just to meet the weight requirement!
It’s crazy the things we cart around that we just simply do not need.
The world we live in influences so much of our thinking on how our journey should look and what we need to be successful. The word of God challenges us to be alert to this and instead of living in a fog of automatic habitual behavior, believing and buying into what culture says we should need, desire, pursue, accumulate – we should instead fix our hearts thoughts and behaviors on a counter culture God and an eternal perspective.
Romans 12:1-2 “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
The world would like us to buy into the notion that more things = more happiness, and if it’s a great deal then even better!
More followers
More likes
More jeans
More shoes (for the 3 day trips…)
More opinions
More perspectives
More options
More toys
More more more more …
As we carry on, we just ACCUMULATE what I believe is simply, clutter. Clogging up our freedom to hear the heart beat of God, His voice, His leading. We can ultimately begin to lead distracted and quite cluttered lives.
Jesus doesn’t want clutter to hinder your view of Him, or to weigh you down on your journey toward Him.
In Matthew 21 we see Jesus visiting the temple and HE GETS FURIOUS – it’s one of the most dramatic portrayals of Jesus and as you read the story you can just feel His frustration. They had lost their focus. They had become so influenced by what was happening in culture – by what other people wanted, expected, demanded that they had began lost sight of the purpose of the house of God. Immediately, in His frustration He eradicates the distractions and things that are out of place, He de-clutters the environment.
Following this it says in Matt 21:14“Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in.”
CLUTTER creates distraction and confusion. Clutter causes guilt and stress. CLUTTER makes it difficult to relax and inhibits creativity. There are financial consequences to clutter. Clutter causes you to forget what you had, and go on without missing it. Clutter causes you to miss the blind and crippled that God has placed right there in front of you to attend to.
Across the seasons of life, what have you collected up and placed into that suitcase you’re dragging around that’s unnecessary, unhelpful and weighing you down. What things should be removed to create a clear view of Jesus and His purpose for your life.
Is there emotional burden, un-forgiveness, hurt that you need to lay aside? Is there a physical clutter in your home, car, work space that you literally get on top of – believe me, we’ve all been there. Your physical environment is important- Gods interested in all aspects of your life and maybe you need to be free of excess in your lifestyle and living environment. Is there spiritual clutter? Have you become so dependent and full on the latest pod cast, Christian book, social media bible verse of the day – that you’ve left no room for God to speak to you directly and personally from His word >> He can, and He will, as you create room and space.
What forgotten dreams or promises are sitting under the settled dust, what treasure is hidden under the clutter of your life.
God, we are so grateful for all that you’ve placed in our life. The wonders of the world we live in. Beautiful people and relationships we have! Help us God as we journey through life, toward eternity – toward You, to be mindful of what we pick up and place into our cases along the way. Give us wisdom to know what we need and what we need to lay down to give us clarity and focus on your purpose and the future you have for us.
Amen
… And don’t worry – God is FULLY in control – He loves you dearly xx
Marleis
Matt 6:30-34 (MSG)
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
o 34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes