Imagine you are paying a visit to the doctor. You walk into the lobby and sign in. You walk over to the waiting area to sit down and you notice that the chairs are not straightened. They are scattered in the middle of the floor and some are turned upside down. You straighten the chairs and then walk to the bathroom to wash your hands.

When you open the bathroom door the first thing you see is papertowels and tissue all over the floor. The sink is dripping, the toilet lids are up and there is some graffiti on the wall just above the paper dispenser. Question; are you staying for your appointment? Why aren’t you staying for your appointment? You aren’t in the office, this is just the waiting area. Does this area have anything to do with the examination area?

Of course it does. If the waiting room is poorly maintained then one could only assume that the examination area would be in similar shape. If that is true of doctors offices then is it true of our lives? Why would we assume that we could live haphazadly, sinning in whatever way suits us, and have a well ordered spiritual life? How could we believe that we could stack up the trash of the world on one side of our brains and store up heaven on the other? “What has light to do with darkness?”

“Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” (Eph.5.8) Let’s clean our lives up. It’s time for all of us to take a good look at how we are living and make adjustments accordingly. Listen, the world is supposed to see our “good works and glorify our Father in heaven”. If we don’t have any good works or if the world can’t see them because their view is blocked by all the garbage we’ve piled up in our lives then we are going to make the gospel a joke.

The unbelieving world cannot understand how Jesus could heal the blind and raise the dead 2000 years ago but can’t seem to keep his followers from indulging in pornography or cussing the hired help. “Jesus, save me from your followers” reflects this sentiment exactly. Many of us have given our souls to Jesus but our lives are still unsurrendered. We have got to surrender completely to the will of God. That includes everything about you.

It’s time for the children of God to be the children of God. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Gal. 5.22-25)