closet cleaning

Confession: I am a clothes hawg!!! :)

I love buying clothes and keeping clothes.I am a collector of clothes! I have been going through and trying to weed out things I no longer wear though and I have two large garbage bags in my garage to take to the goodwill now.

Last night before church, I was trying to find a certain black top to go with my pink summer skirt. I looked and looked. Now, mind you, I have 6 (yes, that is right 6!!) black tops in my closet of various styles and shapes,but I wanted a certain one that I think I put in the goodwill bags.
Let me tell you, the urge to pull those bags open and rifle through for my long lost shirt was tempting, but if it was in the bags, at one point I had decided I didn't need it anymore! I didn't really need that shirt, I just wanted it. I ended up choosing a whole different outfit, but it got me thinking...

How many times in our lives do we give something over to the Lord and say,"take it, it is not good for me, I don't need this _______ (sin, habit, thought pattern,image, guilt), it is not good for me" and then we go and try to claim it back again just like I did with my shirt.

"I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." (Isaiah 43:25) If the Lord takes theses things and remembers them no more, then we should not either. If you are trying to bring something back into your life that you have given to God, be it for guilt or pleasure, don't. Just leave it in God's hands...that is where it belongs.

How many times do you hear a voice in your head telling you that you are nothing or a failure or worthless? Those thoughts are not from God, put them in the garbage bag! How many time do you feel guilty for sin you have already ask the Lord for forgiveness from? Garbage bag!
Satan wants this garbage in our life. The clutter of it keeps us from seeing the blessings God has given us and the confidence to serve Him. While it is a very good idea to clean out the closet and weed out the junk, it is even a better idea to do the same to our hearts...and leave the garbage where it belongs!

Now, off to reevaluate those garbage bags in the garage, I think I threw my cute pink capri's in there too....just kidding!