Clean Hearts Clean Homes

I have been working on cleaning up my home. No matter how much I tried I could not keep my
tables clean of papers of all sorts. I decided I could overcome this if I bought a file cabinet. I usually
check my mail at night but do not feel like opening it up. Instead of throwing the mail on the table, I can
put them in a temporary folder in my file cabinet so I can go through the mail another time. I also try to
follow my rule of putting my books on the bookshelf when I leave home or go to bed so I do not end up
with multiple books on the table. When I want to study, meditate or write, my conscience is not at
peace when my place is not clean. After I clean, I feel so much better when I enter my studies. I believe
this feeling is the way God designed us, although not everyone may feel different whether their home is
clean or dirty. I will argue this is a heart issue and does not reflect the righteousness, wisdom, and glory
of God. One could describe cleanliness as organized as well. Organization is a biblical skill for growth.
Organization is a part of sanctification. Organization and cleanliness is not some human desire which has
no root in the nature of God; rather, organization and cleanliness is a characteristic of the Creator of the
universe. Let me now get into the why behind my position.
As believers in Christ, our hearts have been cleansed by the blood of Christ for the sake of
eternity in the age to come. The Bible also commands us how to continuously cleanse our hearts and
strive to keep our hearts clean in the present age as we prepare for the age to come.
In the Old Testament, God taught us about righteousness and holiness through commanding the
Israelites to distinguish between the clean versus the unclean. This was a preparation for the Gospel and
in understanding more completely what the death of Christ would mean. God used the natural world as
metaphors and types of which would point us and lead us toward Christ Jesus who was to come. As
people of the New Covenant, we can look back and understand Christ more completely in examining
what God taught the Israelites to practice.
The Temple of God under the Old Covenant collected the sins of the people throughout the
year, and once a year on the Day of Atonement the Temple of God was cleansed. Yes, even Gods
temple needed cleaning! Such practices taught the people about God and reflected the truth about God.
To not follow the practices was considered sin and rebellion against God. The cleansing of the Temple
itself was a spiritual cleaning, but the priests were required to do physically cleaning also as a
representation of the spiritual. We see this in the requirement of the priests to have clean garments and
to wash their hands. Certain people were required to physically bathe in order to become spiritually
clean. For example, women who have given birth have discharged blood, and since blood represents
death, these women had to perform the ritual to cleanse themselves. God also spoke about lepers,
mold, dead bodies, and more which requires physical cleansing rituals in order to become spiritually
clean. The point I am making here is how God uses the natural to represent the spiritual. God has built
this into His creation, some of which is revealed in the Bible, and others which we can discover for
ourselves.
We know Jesus and others used the natural to explain the spiritual. A few examples of the
numerous uses are bread, leaven, bronze serpent, golden lampstand, water, soil, seeds, and so on.
These are not just cute metaphors, but God purposefully created the natural world with all such

metaphors in mind, and more so. Any new metaphors we come up with today are not creations of our
own imagination which never entered the mind the God. Any new metaphors we come up with and use
today are metaphors which have been in the mind of God before the creation of the world. Even
technology not invented yet are metaphors in the mind of God. The purpose of these metaphors is to
point us to God and Christ in some way. Gods wisdom is everywhere in creation. Man can never
completely sever the physical from the spiritual. Everything physical is tied to the spiritual in some way,
shape, or form. This is Gods design.
How does all of this relate to cleaning our homes? Clean homes are a metaphor of clean hearts.
I am not making this up, but this has been in the mind of God from the beginning. God is not surprised
by my metaphor. This is not like the time when God spoke about people offering their children to the
god molech, and God says such idea has never entered His mind (see Jeremiah 32:35). God would not
say this about any metaphors we discover if they accurately represent spiritual truth, or any truth for
that matter. Those who have a greater understanding of their hearts being cleansed by the blood of
Christ will have the discipline to keep their homes clean. Does this mean any mess at all is immediately
immoral in some way? No. Gods temple was dirty with the sins of the people each year, but that was
not immoral in anyway. God instituted the Day of Atonement for cleaning. Does this imply we only need
to clean our homes once a year? No. The Bible uses types and metaphors which by definition are not
100% exact parallels. An analogy always breaks down at certain points, otherwise it is no longer an
analogy. General revelation makes it obvious that we need to clean more than once a year. God
requiring the temple to be cleansed once a year does not mean we should only bathe or brush our teeth
once a year.
Dust and dirt collects daily in our homes, just as the sins of the people of Israel were collecting
daily in the temple, and just as the dust and dirt of sin collects daily in our hearts. We are commanded to
protect our hearts. We need to strive at keeping our hearts clean every day. Sometimes deeper
cleansings are necessary just as we spend some days cleaning our homes much more deeply than the
average day. Cleansing our homes in the natural world represents the cleaning of our hearts in this
world. Jesus cleansed our hearts completely for the sake of eternity, but we are commanded to work by
grace to cleanse our hearts every day. To believe the gospel should reflect in our lives in how we live.
The spiritual truths in the Bible should be consistent with how we live in the natural world. For example,
the Bible teaches us that we are to strive to sin no more; in other words, strive for perfection even
though we will never attain perfect righteousness in this age. This is a principle which when applied
consistently means students in school should strive for perfect grades, although perfect grades are
virtually impossible. For a student to enter school with the goal of getting all Bs is like believers setting
goals to only obey God in 95% of their life. This is an inconsistency in applying a biblical principle. We
should pursue perfection in all things such as school, marriage, the workplace, and parenthood, even
though perfection is impossible in this age. So the Bible uses the natural to teach us and point us to the
spiritual and to Christ Jesus, so consistency requires us to apply these principles to our everyday lives.
I am sure my explanation in this article in arguing for my position falls short of perfection. There
are probably better ways to describe and explain my views, but in the grace of God I have done my best
in service to you and to God. The grace of God is sufficient. The Holy Spirit uses imperfect men and
women to teach the body of Christ how to apply the Word to their lives. I hope you found this article to
be interesting, even if you disagree with any or all of what I spoke. Soli deo gloria!