This weekend we finally started clearing out our ‘junk room.’ We all have that space in our house, don’t we? A literal dumping ground for all the junk we have accumulated over time. The clutter we can’t part with but don’t know how to deal with—so we hide it away. Slowly building up until the space we once enjoyed so much is a barely recognizable wasteland. In our case, there were always other priorities, and never enough time. And so, after years of neglect, the room was a mess. It was a painstaking, exhausting process. We very nearly gave up on several occasions. But gradually we started to see glimpses of the room it once was, and what it could be again. Its restoration was in our sights, spurring us on.
That restoration is exactly what God wants to do with the junk in our lives. The things we know we should deal with it, that cause us so much heartache and pain—and shame. The things we try to hide away, out of sight, denying their very existence. Except we know it’s all still there. Accumulating and spreading, touching every part of our lives. Distracting our focus, obstructing our view. Stopping us from living the life we were supposed to live in Him—fully loved, forgiven, and free.
“Lay aside any encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us,” Paul urges us in Hebrews 12:1. We need to let it go—all of it—in order to step boldly in the life He has designed us to live. In order to be all that He created us to be. But we can’t do it alone. We need Jesus to transform our broken lives and cluttered hearts into something beautiful. We need Him to remove the junk and bring those dark hidden burdens into the light where they can be fully restored.
“If anyone belongs to Christ, then He is made new. The old things have gone” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Jesus promises He will meet us in our mess—with abundant grace. The road to restoration will not be easy, but once we glimpse it—we’ll wonder why we ever waited so long.
