We all know that moment when we start looking in the refrigerator and realize that there are items in there that are downright scary.
Things hidden. Things forgotten. Things that have seen their expiration date and ran another lap or two.
And it's gross. Disgusting. Even shameful. And sometimes we'll empty the whole fridge in a sort of total war against spoiled foodstuffs.
And it's good riddance to bad rubbish.
But when is the last time we cleaned out our lives like we clean out our fridge? When is the last time you opened the doors of your heart and searched for any hidden sin, any ignored iniquity?
The Lord encourages us to endeavor in the process of heart cleaning, of ridding the rubbish that might still be clinging to our new hearts.
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1 Corinthians 5.7-8 - "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
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In Christ, we are new creations, new lumps, yet the old leaven still clings. It holds tight in the nooks and crannies of our hearts, waiting to pop out when we least expect, and it's putrid stench can spoil all the good around it.
So what do we do?
We go cleaning.
We clean out whatever leaven we see, whatever sin that still clings.
We rid our life of the old leaven of things like malice and evil.
Why?
Because of Christ. Because of his sacrifice. Because of what we really are through him - unleavened.
But the Bible doesn't just call us to a cleaning, but to a filling.
We get rid of the rubbish and then we pack the fridge with good things, with sincerity and truth. We stock up.
And why?
So that we might feast.
We clean out the fridge so that we might feast.
Christian, clean out the rubbish. Not just because sin is gross and nasty.
But because it's ruining your feast. The feast-ival has begun. The party has started.
Put down that moldy, rotten meat of the old you and take up life in the Lamb. Pour out the glasses of sour milk and fill your cup with living water. Taste the unleavened bread that is the joy of the Christian life.
Clean out your fridge, Christian.
It's time to feast.