Meditation

Read Jeremiah 4:14-18

O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you may be saved. How long shall your evil schemes lodge within you?—Jeremiah 4:14 (NRSV)

The apartment building I had lived in for four years closed. As my neighbors and I began to move out, I marveled at the amount of stuff people had been able to fit into their apartments. My own quarters had been pretty bare, but there was always plenty of room for the regular stream of friends coming in and out to visit. Had I accumulated more things, there would not have been enough space for all of the shared meals, impromptu dancing, and games of charades with those I cared about.

Though I’m not an avid collector of material possessions, I do have a tendency to store up unnecessary and even dangerous things in my heart: grudges, harsh words, hypocritical thoughts, and bad attitudes. My heart can become so disorderly that there’s little room left for God or other people. Unless I give the Holy Spirit freedom to remove everything that isn’t valuable, I will remain isolated in the cramped confines of spiritual clutter.

God longs to live close to us, to share the space of our lives so we can enjoy intimacy with God and with one another. Clearing the junk out of our hearts can be difficult, but when we do, we open ourselves to experiencing life as God meant it to be.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for loving us enough to enter our messy hearts and clear space for eternal life. Amen.

Thought for the day: What do I need to clean out of my heart to make more room for God?

—Megan L. Anderson, Indiana