On Church Clean-Ups

This morning, I took advantage of my youth being out of school and made...I mean "encouraged" them to come up to the church today to do some work around our facilities. We didn't do anything too crazy, mainly cleaning up some storage rooms and closets, installing some new light bulbs, and stuff like that. The most arduous task of the day was cleaning all the brush off of the fence next to a small outdoor basketball court/play area that we have. Part of a tree and a bunch of vines had blown over onto the fence, so we cleaned that off.

All in all, it wasn't too much work; however, it was needed. The jobs that we did today were things that have needed to be done for several weeks (or months), but no one has gotten around to doing them. So, it was a pretty productive today.

As we cleaned up the church building, I began to wonder about the state of the church (as in the body of Christ), both at East Vernon Baptist Church and globally. How much cleaning do we need to do inside the church itself so that we can function better? What are some things that need to be done so that we can do a better job of glorifying Christ by making disciples of all nations?

I don't have the answers for the church as a whole. I can think of a few specific things, but at this point, I am not in the right position to diagnose the ailments of the global church. However, I am in the perfect spot to be able to see what needs to be cleaned up inside my own heart.

As a member of the body of Christ, I know that I need to be doing some cleaning up in my life. There are bad habits that need to be cut back, closets of sin that need to be cleaned out, lights of the Gospel that need to be brightened, and seeds of love and compassion that need to be planted. I've got some serious maintenance to do if I want to reach my full potential.

The church clean-up day went very well this morning. Hopefully, I'll have the same result in my heart.