Take Out the Trash!

Tuesday, January 29

What kinds of things might be junking up your life?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

A few years ago there was some controversy in the trucking industry. It had to do with the same trailers being used to haul both garbage and food. Trailers would be full of garbage and then rinsed out and used to haul produce and grain. Most people didn't know this kind of thing was going on. Once they found out, there was a huge uproar over this unsanitary practice. People felt that no amount of cleaning would make a trailer safe for hauling food once it had been befouled by rotting garbage. You wouldn't take the garbage can out from under your kitchen sink, wash it out, and use it as a punch bowl, would you? Legislation was introduced to make it illegal to use the same trailers for hauling both food and garbage.

Yesterday, we talked about how the Tabernacle was kept clean. Much care was taken to insure that the house of God didn't become impure. We also talked about how God now lives within each of us. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit."

Tomorrow, we'll talk about the awesome cleaning and purifying power that comes through the grace of God.

But today, we're going to talk about the garbage that we allow into our bodies and minds. We sometimes allow ourselves to become befouled--unfit, really, for God to take up residence within us.

Our physical bodies are our gifts from God. Taking care of these gifts, by eating healthy, practicing good hygiene, and avoiding stuff like smoking, drinking, and drugs, brings honor to God.

It also goes beyond our physical being and into our spiritual being. Sexual immorality, stealing, inappropriate conversations, gossip, cursing, cheating--it's like having a garbage dump right in the middle of God's living room.

Take out the trash! Spend some time in quiet, meditative prayer, contemplating the things that might be "junking up" your relationship with God. Make a list of things you can work on and set about making your personal house of God free from impurities.


If today's devotion spoke to you in a particular way and you feel led to share your thoughts with others, please do so.