Have you noticed how a closet can become so crowded and disorganized that it’s hard to find something when you need it? At the same time, we know we ought to clean it out, discard what’s not needed, and free up some space but still we hesitate. Who wants to do all that work?
I’ve noticed a similar phenomenon with our spiritual closet, otherwise known as the heart. We keep putting stuff in, letting it pile up where it clogs our inner space. This adds a heaviness to our spirit, discourages making plans, and robs God of the space He wants and needs to interact with us. That’s why I believe the Bible urges us to “watch over” our heart “with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23 NASB).
It takes effort, though, which is why I believe the Bible encourages diligence. I’m not a heart specialist but I can tell you what I’ve learned through experience in keeping the springs of life flowing.
Diligence requires a willingness to look inward
Good and bad things can be stored in our heart just like things that work and things that are broken can be stored in the same closet. Both take up room so if I want the springs of life to flow, I need to get rid of some of the broken or no longer useful items which may not be as easy to recognize as a broken umbrella or an outgrown toy.
If what’s disrupting life’s flow hasn’t been in our heart for a long time, we may be able to easily pull up what we’re storing by stopping, looking, and listening, but if it is something like unforgiveness, resentment, anger, and despair that has been stored for a long time, it may be more challenging. That’s why when I clean out my spiritual closet, I ask the Holy Spirit to show me what’s there. It helps this process if I’m in a place where I can be quiet and do nothing but wait for the Holy Spirit to reveal what’s in my heart.
Sometimes the answer comes quickly, but other times, I have had to contemplate harder over a period of days and use a pencil and paper. As thoughts and feelings surface, I write them down. I don’t try to analyze each thought or feeling as it occurs; I simply write them down. Once on paper, though, I can look at them, study them, and gain insight as to what needs to go.
Diligence may require repentance
Admittingly, sin is one of the things that wants to hide in our hearts and interfere with experiencing the “springs of life.” No one likes to think of themself as being a sinner or as sinning, but we do sin (see Romans 3:23). When we do, we can immediately confess and claim God’s forgiveness, but for various reasons we don’t always do that. We may deny it, push the sin back in our spiritual closets, and tell ourselves we’ll get around to confessing sometime, but like keeping broken umbrellas in a hall closet, we forget. Consequently, the sin remains occupying valuable space where God wants to interact with us.
Sometimes looking at what I’ve written on paper, I realize the problem isn’t what I originally thought it to be. For example, when I started experiencing pangs of jealousy, something unusual for me, I studied what I wrote. As I did, I realized that behind the jealous feeling was disappointment in God. I was jealous of others because God was blessing them when I thought He should have been blessing me! I saw myself as being more obedient and conscientious than they were and concluded His favoritism wasn’t fair! I was startled by this realization, and I repented. In doing so, I cleared up valuable inner space.
Diligence may require asking, “What now?”
To really clean out a closet calls for reorganization so in addition to repenting, I reorganized what was happening and stopped comparing myself with others. With the Spirit’s help, I set goals for the future so I wouldn’t be looking to the right and to the left and comparing myself with others. These goals really helped to keep jealousy at bay, but it would never have occurred to me to do this if I hadn’t cleaned out my closet.
When cleaning out an actual closet, choices are involved—what to keep and what to discard and how to organize the cleared space so you will be able to find things in the future. Identifying what’s in our spiritual closet may not be enough to clear up space for God to work in our life, to talk with us, and to bless us. We may need to do something more.
If what I pull up is sin, I need to confess it to God and ask His forgiveness which is what I did. But some of what we pull up, some of what we bring to the surface, may not be sin. It may be a forgotten dream or a goal you once had. You put it off pursuing it, waiting for “someday” to arrive. Our recognition of dreams or goals when we clean out our closet may indicate “someday” has arrived. Now may be the time to work on achieving a goal or fulfilling a dream. With God’s help, this effort will get the “springs of life” flowing again.
Once we’ve looked inward, seen what is there, made choices, repenting if needed, and keeping the lines of communication open with God, we have a clean closet. Consequently, our spirit feels lighter, the sense of heaviness is gone, and the communication lines with God are open, making us hopeful about the future. I know this is true. I’ve experienced all of this which is why I can wholeheartedly say, “It pays to clean out your closet!”
Author Info
Brenda Poinsett
Brenda Poinsett works with women who want a new lease on life and with groups who want to be inspired and educated through teaching, speaking, and writing. She’s the author of 22 books including You’ve Got It, I Want It and 30 Days of Hope for Dealing with Depression.
