Cleaning House

 "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139: 23, 24

    I'm ashamed to admit this, but there's a guy at work I don't like very well. To me, he's coarse, rude and foul mouthed. His presence makes me inwardly cringe as I offer no charity, though he has not requested any. "Fine with me," I thought. What nettles me more is that everyone else gets along with him just fine, so I find it unsettling to be on the outside.

    The problem lies, not with this person, but with me. I've declared him unworthy (though he, too, is made in the image of God) and slammed the door on him before he even rang the bell. As a Christian, I've got some major house cleaning to do.

    In Jesus' day, the tax collectors were the odious ones. Remember the wee little man, Zacchaeus, who climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see? What if Jesus, when he passed beneath the bough, just kept on going, pretending Zacchaeus wasn't there? The opportunity for salvation to visit the house of this repentant tax collector would have been missed. 

    The word "Christian" means "Little Christ." Since I have been shown mercy by the King, who do I think I am to withhold mercy from another? In the parable of the unmerciful servant, after the servant had been forgiven by the master his debt of ten thousand bags of gold, he went out and grabbed a guy by the throat and demanded he pay him the hundred silver coins he owed. When the master heard about it, he called that man in on the carpet saying, "You wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" (Matthew 18: 32, 33)

    To apply the opening verse from Psalm 139, I must ask God to search me, know my heart and point out any offensive way in me, not in people I don't care for. My attitude is worse than my coworker's because I am a daughter of the King. I am the odious one!

    Lord, forgive me for I have sinned against you in thought, word and deed. 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." Psalm 51:10-12