Sometimes it’s time for a bit of cleaning because things do get a little dirty over time; things still function, but not as well. Just recently I cleaned our house windows inside and out, they were okay… they obviously still let in the light! But if I took an Instagram pic from inside the house the result was a blurry image..

So we are not talking here of a major clean up, but just regular maintenance that makes things function at their best. Like that silver cleaning we do to remove the build up of tarnish on the cutlery and other items. Just a little of that magic cleaner Brasso is all that’s needed to keep things looking at their best.

As we look at our individual Christian lives we have to admit that they do need a little polishing up from time to time. It doesn’t mean we are any less a Christian for the Lord Jesus has already done a perfect work in forgiving us as sinners. We are righteous in Him, but some spiritual housekeeping doesn’t go astray.

As we live our lives in this human body of ours there will be inevitable conflict between the Spirit and our old ways. God has created us to be a new person but old traits die hard and we find our spiritual life in Christ getting somewhat tarnished. Is there a solution to this problem? There most certainly is!

The simple answer is to live by the Spirit and we won’t find ourselves getting stained by those sinful failures of the flesh like anger, impatience and jealousy. When we live by the Spirit it is possible to replace those negative traits with the positive fruit of the Spirit which includes gentlenes, patience and love.

The key is to be daily drawing on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Bible reading and fellowship are important, but to stay polished we must be commiting each day to our Saviour and Lord.

Ref. Galations 5:13-26. NIV.