Cleaning up our Act

Cleaning up our Act

We all know that we do things, say things and create things we have no business even thinking about.  At times, we allow these impure and evil thoughts to show in our actions.  When this happens, we need to think about “cleaning up our act.”  I can find myself trying to clean things up that have happened in my past.  Trying to wipe up something after it has been spilled, if you know what I mean.  I realize that I needed to be much more careful, more mindful of things said or done, in order to avoid the sadness and misery that followed.  It would make more sense to simply avoid the heartache by changing the way I approach things, or “cleaning up my act.” 

God has a few cleaning solutions that we can apply regularly in order to avoid the stinky mess of our mistakes.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”   Ephesians 5:1-2(NASB) The Apostle Paul was preaching to the church in Ephesus about their actions, or lack of, when dealing with their salvation.  He was encouraging them to clean up their act.  He even goes as far as telling them how it may help the smell.

“But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians 5:3-5(NASB)

It’s easy to think we do not act in a manner that would be offensive, or that would cause someone to misjudge.  But it is God who ultimately does the judging, not our fellow man.  We need to act in a manner that is pleasing to God, and not to our boss, not our circle of friends and not our neighbors.  We need to make sure we are acting in a fashion that is acceptable to our God, every day, all day.  We need to be mindful of our speech, our actions and our thoughts 24/7. 

When we read God’s Word, His instructions on how we should “clean up our act,” we may want to make sure we are using His cleaning solution to do the scrubbing. 

“in the world, not of the world”