Some of my favorite television programs are these popular “house cleaning” shows: How Clean Is Your House, Clean House, neat, Clean Sweep, etc. People either nominate themselves, or a friend or family member nominates a household in trouble with dirt and clutter in the home. These are people at their wits’ end – overwhelmed, with wavering hope – virtually paralyzed and finally to a point of desperation – coming to a realization saying, “I can’t do this myself – I need HELP.” The situation within their four walls has gotten completely out of hand, beyond their own control or ability. The space in which they exist is either a cause of their personal and relational problems, or a result of underlying issues… or both! Until… “HELP! I can’t do it myself! I need someone to lift this burden from me!”
Whether overwhelming clutter or actual unsanitary dirty filth, something has got to change. Sometimes, as I said, people nominate themselves – they realize there’s a problem and they just don’t know how or where to begin. Other people are too close to the problem and they don’t even see it – someone else calls the TV show to help get their friends’ eyes open. I look at these people – their faces, their posture… they seem beaten, bogged down by their own doing. They are sad, practically blinded by inability to function – and it affects the entire household – everyone around them. But then – they ask for help (or someone asks for them) and help comes and they accept the help.
I personally feel better having seen other people’s disastrous abodes. By comparison, well, my place isn’t nearly THAT bad! And, I am moved to action. When I see the mess that these people on TV have allowed themselves to get into, I find that I put forth a little more effort, thinking that I don’t want to end up in the same sort of mess! Then, at the end of the program, when the “new” clean beautiful rooms are revealed to the homeowners, I am again moved to action – only this time, with the mindset that, “I want that for myself!”
The big reveal at the end of the program is one of the best parts of the show. Their eyes are opened and their responses are typically those of joy, surprise, delight. They often think that their dirty old stove is a brand new stove – nah, it’s just been cleaned! They’ve not only been helped, but they’ve been given the tools – not just physical tools such as brooms and mops – but tools within themselves enabling to go from there – to maintain and improve and to not get into such a situation again in the future. They’ve been changed for the better. They’ll live differently than they did before this “encounter.” And when I see it, it gives me hope – “if they can do it, so can I!” and it presents me a challenge to get up and go scrub something and pick up some clutter myself.
In Acts 22:4-16Acts 22:4-16
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
4 . I made trouble for everyone who followed the Lord's Way, h followed the Lord's Way: See the note at . and I even had some of them killed. I had others arrested and put in jail. I didn't care if they were men or women.
5 The high priest and all the council members can tell you that this is true. They even gave me letters to the Jewish leaders in Damascus, so that I could arrest people there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 One day about noon I was getting close to Damascus, when a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.
7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you so cruel to me?”
8 “Who are you?” I answered.
The Lord replied, “I am Jesus from Nazareth! I am the one you are so cruel to.”
9 The men who were traveling with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice.
10 I asked, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
Then he told me, “Get up and go to Damascus. When you get there, you will be told what to do.”
11 The light had been so bright that I couldn't see. And the other men had to lead me by the hand to Damascus.
12 In that city there was a man named Ananias, who faithfully obeyed the Law of Moses and was well liked by all the Jewish people living there.
13 He came to me and said, “Saul, my friend, you can now see again!”
At once I could see.
14 Then Ananias told me, “The God that our ancestors worshiped has chosen you to know what he wants done. He has chosen you to see the One Who Obeys God i One Who Obeys God: See the note at . and to hear his voice.
15 You must tell everyone what you have seen and heard.
16 What are you waiting for? Get up! Be baptized, and wash away your sins by praying to the Lord.”
WP-Bible plugin Paul writes:
I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” I asked.
“I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
“What shall I do, Lord?” I asked.
“Get up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight!” And at that very moment I was able to see him.
Then he said: “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”
Saul was a mess. Angry and violent, and his situation had gotten way out of hand! But he wasn’t asking for help, was he? The Lord himself called Saul and confronted him about his ways. Jesus nominated him for the program! Like a TV maintenance crew, Ananias came and helped – and then Saul’s eyes were opened to new, to clean, to joy – to a new name – Paul – and a new life. New goals. He had accepted the help, the gift of salvation. He was given the tools within himself to go out and not allow himself to go back to the way he was – and this gift he was able to pass on to others who saw the change in his life. He could take what he had learned and what he had been given and pass it along. He could be an inspiration and example. Like a shiny new stove, his filthy dirty old stove had been cleaned up.
And if he can do it, hey – so can I. I can look at Paul’s life – his 180 degree change – and I can look at what he did in the name of Christ, and I can be inspired by that to get up and scrub a little here and there. And looking back on my own life, the changes in the better that I see in myself make me know for certain that God has worked – is working – will continue to work in my life.
to think about
- Is there an area of your life that you feel is in some way crippling you, paralyzing you? Is it an issue that you need to ask God for help with solving? Step back and ask yourself – is he offering help, and maybe you just aren’t accepting his help?
- Do you see a friend or family member in such a situation in their spiritual life? Pray long and hard for someone that isn’t able see that they need help, or is blind to the fact that they need help.
- Can you think of other examples of people who have had wonderful, drastic, 180 degree changes for the better?
prayer
God, I am a mess. I thank you and I give you all the glory for helping me clean up my life -and for the peace and joy and delight I have known all for knowing you. For accepting your gift, your love, and for giving me the tools such as your Word, and your son. I know it is not an easy road. I sometimes lack skills, lack confidence, and wander nearly off the path. I am misunderstood and misinterpreted. But I know you are always there for me and I pray that I can continue to learn and grow and improve and mature. If “clutter” builds up in my life, I have your help when I ask for it. For these things I am so grateful.
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