Gena's Jewels: Clean the Kitchen

The Lord challenged my thinking again this week. Not that it's hard for Him to do I am pretty much blown away by most of what He shows me.

But as you know when I get convicted I like to take you down with me:)

I want to share my lesson in picture form cause that's what I do.

The Holy Spirit was talking to me about all the things I (we) get involved in.
For this jewel I'm talking about good things. Things we do as we wait for His return.

But let's say God asked us to do certain things while we wait. Are we doing them?

For example, let's say God gave each one of us a really expensive house complete with pool, cars, waiters, clothes, the whole package.

Suppose He says, I'm letting you use this house for free. While I'm gone you can enjoy everything the house has but, I want you to make sure the kitchen is ALWAYS clean. One day I'm going to come back and check it. You won't know the day I'm coming so make sure you clean it every day. If you do you can inherit the house forever.

The problem is we clean the bedroom and bathroom. We spend hours making sure the living room is perfect just in case Jesus shows up. We bleach the walkways and hire a pool boy. We dust every light fixture and shine every window. BUT we never actually make it into the kitchen.

We wake up one morning and there's Jesus at the door and as He's walking to the kitchen we show off all the other perfect rooms. Especially the living room cause that's the room we like best and we know He will be impressed by our efforts.

We proudly give Jesus a play by play of all our hard work, however, He's there to see the kitchen.

I made it simple for the example but that's exactly what will happen one day, only the Bible tells us what the rooms represent.

You see Jesus is coming back for us and we have no idea exactly when that will be.

Matthew 24:44 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

And He is coming to see if we followed His instructions so we can receive our inheritance.

Matthew 25:34-45 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
I started thinking of my own life. What does my kitchen look like?

Am I taking care of the rooms He asked me to or making a list of things to impress Jesus with. Am I feeding the hungry?

Do I know anyone in prison?

Will I be saying look at my living room! I went to Bible study and led a small group. I hosted a woman's retreat or spoke at a conference.
Gems these are not bad things and they may be very helpful maybe even honorable in Kingdom building BUT are they what He asked?

Am I so busy with my chore list that I'm not even looking at His?

Am I doing the things that make me feel good or I'm comfortable with or am I obediently putting myself into what God commands?

I gotta tell ya Gems this made me stop and think.... I seriously don't want the first words of Jesus to me to be “depart from me!”

We need other rooms, doctors, realtors, zoo keepers, baby sitters, whatever job your doing. We need writers and singers, painters and gardeners. It's OK to dance and swim and eat and even sleep. It's good to go to church and attend socials, learn the word and pray for each other. These are all good rooms in a house. Let's just make sure we are also adding God's to do list to our agenda.

Let's not put so much focus on what's not in the Bible and hone in on what is.
It's great to know the word and to study the Bible but what are we doing with that knowledge? Are we sitting on our religious butts and showing off our spiritual library? Or are we taking it to the kitchen?