Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. There’s just something about the way that new life stems from green blades of grass, blooming flowers and blossoming trees. Our winters in Dallas aren’t typically very harsh compared to other spots around the country, but here as well, everything’s been dead all winter season. So it’s exciting to see all the green, knowing that a new season’s here! Springtime’s so fresh and new. But there IS something that I don’t like about this time: spring-cleaning! It’s so hard to deep clean (especially when it’s nice outside!) after having a season where we let things pile up.

But just like when we take the time to deep clean our house, we also need to take time to deep clean our heart. Stuff gets piled up in our hearts. Maybe it’s sin, or busyness, or brokenness, or unforgiveness… but our hearts get stuffed with all of this junk, and if it’s not taken care of, it’ll keep us from God. So this Spring can also be the perfect time to do our spiritual spring-cleaning. Why? Because as our early Easter a few weeks ago reminded us, God’s depth of love for us is immeasurable, and because of that love, Jesus painfully took upon all of our sins on the cross, and then gave us the hope that we continue to celebrate today when He rose three days later! If He went through all of that pain for us so that we could be purified and live forever with Him in Heaven, don’t you think that we can take the time, no matter how painful it is, to clean out our own hearts for Him?

“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. “ James 4:8

It’s time my friend, to do some heart-spring-cleaning. Are there things in there that’ve been taking the place of God? Maybe it’s shopping, social media, Netflix, food. Perhaps it’s even deeper than that- drugs, alcohol, gambling. Might there even be secret sin that needs to be laid before the cross. It’s Spring. Time to bring our “heart-junk” into the light, time to let repentance show, to let healing grow, to let forgiveness flow. It’s time to let God back into being the King of our life!

How does your heart need to be cleaned this Spring? Will you join me in asking God to meet us where we are, and to help us deep-clean our innermost being, so that we can see and hear Him more clearly? Then, as our hearts are cleaned, new life will bud, stem and grow us more into the people who God has created us to be!

“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.” Isaiah 1:16