Recently, I have been spending time trying to re-organize and clean my storage unit. If any of you have ever tried to clean out your garage or storage unit, then I don’t have to tell you how much fun it is. I never realized how much “stuff” I accumulated over the years until I started the project. I began by trying to create a pile of items that I could donate; a pile of items that I could trash; and a final pile of items that I wanted to keep and store. It’s actually more difficult than you would think to sort items in this manner. I found myself getting sentimental and wanting to keep things that my head said I had no business keeping, but my heart said otherwise. I ended up keeping things that I probably would never use again but I convinced myself that there just might be a time down the road I would actually use them. Unfortunately, I only had limited room in my storage unit so I was forced to create some space for the items I really did need to keep.
As I was slowly, but surely, making progress in my re-organizing efforts, it occurred to me that holding on to so many things of the past actually prevented me from making room for the things of the present and future. There was no way I was going to ever have any room to add anything new because I had been too focused on items in the past. Our Christian faith is so much like that. We fill our lives with so much “junk” that we aren’t able to recognize what God may be trying to do in our lives.
Whenever God wants to send us in a particular direction, our tendency is to reach back and pull out a storage box from the past. If God is leading you down a particular career path, we somehow find the storage box labeled “Reasons I Can’t Do This.” If God is moving you to forgive someone, we search for the storage box labeled, “People Who Don’t Deserve Forgiving.” If God asks you to witness to someone about your faith, we locate the storage box that says, “They Might Be Offended.” If God says “Worship Me,” we find the storage box that says, “I Don’t Have Time.”
I can tell you that pulling all of the old boxes out of storage was exhausting. It was a great feeling to de-clutter and know that my storage unit now had room for bigger and better things. As Christians, we all spend way too much time worrying about our past and bringing out old baggage that is no longer relevant in our lives. Instead, concentrate on what God is doing today in your life.
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