Purging The Old Things
We got a dumpster for a few days, and we're throwing a bunch of things away.
One of the first things we tossed was a pile of debris in the far corner of our property. This pile of junk had been sitting there for quite a while and was from some repair work I did on a shed a couple years ago.
Pulling back all the brush and ivy that had started to grow through the pile, we tried to not get slowed down by the giant spiders and other bugs that had taken up residence. We also noticed that some rats had claimed this area as their home, and as we pulled various pieces of junk we saw some rustling leaves of the ivy around us as the rats quickly vacated towards the back of our property.
As I was thinking about this clean up project that we've started, God started to speak to me about this next season that the church is coming into. He said that this current time that we're in is to evaluate what things need to be taken into the next season, and which things need to be let go. This includes the way we do things, our attitudes, values, cultures, mindsets, possessions, etc. Our position in this process needs to be one where we allow everything to be laid on the table for the Holy Spirit to have influence in saying keep or toss.
I felt so strongly that if the church as a whole, and the individuals that make up the church, proceed into this next season without going through this purging process, they will take things with them that will slow them down and hijack their effectiveness. I see the old things that people and churches refuse to let go of begin to rot, and like the pile of rubbish in our back yard, it will attract rats and all sorts of things that will strangle its purpose.
Let's be a people that are free and light, not bogged down by the weight of things that are no longer needed for this season that we're coming into. Let's not be afraid of letting go of the old, and instead, let's trust that the Holy Spirit will give us everything we need to be effective and fruitful in these days to come.
