A Post About Junk

You know what I don't like?
I don't like junk.

I don't like clutter or disorganization or unfolded clothes sitting in a hamper for days. Today as I was cleaning my room an audible sigh of relief came from my mouth the moment everything was put away in its place. I love how peaceful organization makes things. An area, whether a desk or a closet or a room, has so much purpose and a even sense of purity when the junk is gone.

You know what else I don't like?
I don't like spiritual junk.

Tonight in prayer I was talking to the Lord about all the junk that I have a bad habit of allowing in my life. I can almost feel it is I describe it: so often I spend my days turning from side to side, left to right, looking for something to distract me. I wouldn't admit this in the past... but it's true. I wander around, I keep myself busy, I try to fill my life, satisfy my thirst for purpose by drinking from a broken fountain-- things of this world that can not make me complete because they themselves are empty. I waste time and neglect my heart's desire to just be with the Lord. And in this... I neglect the Lord himself... Ah, but there is forgiveness and there is a God who loves me above and beyond all my sin and shame. Praise the Lord for that.

Do you ever feel like this? Do you ever feel like your entire day was spent being "busy" or being "distracted" or "wasting time"? I hate those kinds of days... but sometimes I still choose them.

I don't want to look to the left or the right anymore. I just want my eyes to be fixed on Christ. Tonight I prayed with authority and confidence that the Lord would help me slam the door shut that welcomes compromise and junk into my life.
Because compromise and junk and laziness just leave me feeling like junk.

But that's not who God made us, is it? Junk and frustration don't belong in our lives. I know that that which keeps me from Christ doesn't belong. It just doesn't make sense to hold onto things that only serve to distract us from the call of God. I want to hear His whispers and following the leading of the Holy Spirit... but that can't happen if I'm spending my day looking for the next thing to keep me entertained or "busy". Life lived for self is just so frustrating.

Junk keeps me from peace. Junk keeps me from sleep. It keeps me from building healthy relationships and even from the Lord. Because when junk starts to fill our lives, it tends to be what our flesh wants-- entertainment, stimulation, lack of responsibility.

But God offers something so much greater than junk and distraction... a life of purpose.
Purpose.


That's beautiful.