Cleanse Us of anything You Cannot Bless

As I began reading an e-mail, this line caught my eye and tugged at my heart. We have been discussing this very thing in our home off and on for several months. We’ve slid into making choices of good things, which has kept us from choosing the best things.

It’s easy to understand wanting to kick back and just relax after a busy day, but I’m finding that this is prime time for our enemy to attack.

I’m reminded of one a line from one of my favorite hymns Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing:

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
Born to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”

And wander we do, as we often choose the easy way – flip through the channels on the TV – allowing unwanted images to be seen by us and our children. Or surfing the net, or just wasting our time doing nothing.

Is it wrong to relax – no, hopefully you all know me well enough to know that I’m not suggesting that, but we need to be careful about how we use our discretionary time.

In our book, Purposeful Planning, we list this as one of the topics we pray about and discuss during our planning time.

In it I say, “We almost always need o make corrections. Our sin nature often just wants to take it easy.

Now there is nothing wrong with, “just taking it easy”, but sometimes what we think will refresh us really doesn’t.”

I go on to discuss a point made by Phillip and Carol Zaleski in their book, Prayer: A History:

“We are happiest when attention is absorbed in concentration or expanded beyond its habitual range. Not passively ‘relaxing’ but rather when we are fully engaged in a task that matters to us and challenges us.”

So, back to Kari’s article:

Spring Cleaning for the Soul – and Homeschool
Kari Lewis
Home School Enrichment

She goes on to say,

“Cleanse us of anything You cannot bless. It’s pretty easy to see that we need to be cleansed of sins like pride, anger, selfishness, ugly or hateful attitudes, and other blatantly sinful or displeasing things. But this request goes so much further than merely asking to be cleansed of sinful things—things that would outright displease God.  With this statement, we’re asking God to clean everything out and leave only the things that He can bless—things that truly please a holy God!’

She pulls things together more by saying,

“There’s a big difference between getting by and getting blessed! We may be able to have things in our lives that God is not blessing, but is it wise? Galatians 6:7 tells us to “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Remember, we reap what we sow, and we reap more than we sow.  If we sow things God cannot bless, we will reap more unblessed things down the road—sounds pretty scary to me!”
As frightening as this prayer is, it is even scarier to think of the consequences of continuing to do things and walk in ways that the Lord cannot bless.

Please give some serious thought to joining me as I pray, “Lord, Cleanse me of anything You cannot bless.”

Be sure to read the entire article.

Finding Joy in the Journey,
Phyllis

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Phyllis Sather
Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness at:
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