A Clean Heart

Is your heart clean? How do you clean it if it isn't?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10 NLT

Reflection

This was a psalm I read, probably in a devotional I am doing. It struck me as something to think about. To perhaps write whatever it is that is about to come out.

For some of us, we let life, the things that happen to us or the things that we do to others, clog up our heart and our minds. This is exactly where Satan likes to do his best work. It’s the easiest place for him to attack because they both go together and, fortunately, are not the soul. However, they have a way of crowding out the soul. Let me explain.

As we build up the stories, the sins, and the messages we allow into our minds, we take up the place where other thoughts can occur. It isn’t our fault. It is what happens in the world and is probably tough to prevent. After all, life is life.

While I believe we should all be God-centered, and it is in this centering we can have the opportunity to fend off these Satan attacks, we are only human. In humanness, we have to mature, and we only mature through age. This means things will happen that place emotional goods and bads on our hearts and heads.

Which is why this Psalm is so interesting and vital. One is that we should pray regularly because it does exactly what we need to do. It brings God into our story. It makes Him front and center. It leans into Him to do exactly what He can do. But it takes time. It takes work, and it takes patience.

It seems unfair to the youth because it is possible, like me, you can genuinely go down roads that are very rough. Some feel it is impossible to get off of, or they will never end. The truth, with God, you will find the right path. He never leaves you alone because He must take advantage of the right moments to get your attention. He certainly has Exhibit A in me.

Once you find the better path, how do you prevent or manage all the baggage you carry in your “Journey Trunk” ... the one that has all those stickers of the places you went? Those reminders, some worn and weathered, of the good and the bad. How do you deal with them? Well, I say you embrace them all. Not in a cherished way. More in an acknowledged way. One that says, “I am not proud of some that. It hurts when I think of some of it. It makes me ashamed, perhaps. But while that is who I was, it isn’t who I am. Who I am is the sum of those things plus the things to come. So I embrace who I was, and I reclaim, with God’s help, who I intend to be. I release all that was done to me or that I did to others. If I hurt someone, I truly pray they have overcome the hurt I caused. If I helped someone, I truly hope it continues to this day. In the meantime, I carry with me all of it and place it at the cross. I give it to my Father and trust He will take it all and do what He needs so I can live this life for His purpose and not my own.

I believe when you can get to this place. The one that I believe I have found for myself. When you mature enough to realize you can’t keep holding God back, your heart can be made clean. Plus, you now give Him His workplace, which is in your soul. Where His spirit lives in the Spirit that is to guide us through this life, we have us. Once you free yourself from the noise of what was, what wasn’t, what you did, what you didn’t do, and decide to become the renewed you, the one centered on God, well ... it’s the right place and today is the right time to decide to clean that heart of yours.

Do not let Satan own you through all that was. Let God own you for all that was, and allow Him to make the best of it all. Trust in Him. Seek Him. Learn about Him and from Him through others.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are the one who can clean a heart. You are the one that is always with us. Patient. Loving and hurting with us and laughing with us and hoping with us. Please help us all find this place where our hearts can be cleansed. Please help us keep those hearts free to experience the joy that this life you have provided despite the hardships and circumstances. Let us find the beauty in all of it. Let us find peace. Keep us centered on you and with you, Father. Let us help this world be a better place despite what happened or what we did. Let us help others and show them what love looks like, even if we do not receive it in kind. Let us be satisfied that with your love, nothing else matters. Thank you, Father, for being the good father you are. Thank you for your mercy, your grace, and your constant willingness to help us find you. Thank you to Jesus, who showed us the way. Thank you to all those who pray for us and try to help us in this walk of life. I love you, my Father, and pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.