When someone repents, their path changes. They act differently. They do things in a different way than before being converted. It’s as if they want to do everything possible to get rid of the wrong things.

You see, one’s heart is touched and it is precisely the heart that drives the person to learn a new lifestyle. It’s as if the scales fall off your eyes and you suddenly see what is not right in your life.

For the first time, the spotlight shines on the things that are not so fresh. For the first time, one’s nose is open and one smells the things that have already gone off. The things that actually poison the world.

This is the wisdom that comes from God. Now one wants to start cleaning. All the dirt and impurities in one’s life now float to the top. It makes you feel ashamed, so you want to get rid of it completely.

That’s what Godly wisdom does to a person.

¹⁴Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.

I think about the sin that will no longer have a hold on a person. Looking back on my path, I see things that have crept back into my life. They come and move in again without me noticing it and yes, then they get hold of me again. They break my speed and prevent me from getting where I need to go.

I have the wisdom to know what smells off and where things are not so fresh. But in a way, I let them back into my life one by one, and the consequences are not so good.

I will have to clean up again.

In our house, cleaning is high on the list. Almost every week we take a room in the house and carry everything out. Then there is a lot of vacuuming and washing. This process is repeated in case some dust is still lying around somewhere.

It’s amazing how soon after the deep cleaning, dust and dirt build up again. It’s as if a lot of dust showers come in, and before you know it, you have to carry everything out and clean again.

It’s the same in our spiritual lives as well. I don’t know if we just don’t care or simply leave the door open for the wrong things to creep back into our lives. Those things that we enjoyed doing before we became a child of God.

We have to get the dusters out. We have to ask for a lot of wisdom and a flashlight too. Then we have to find and take out the wrong things one by one. We must dust off so that our lives can be clean again, clean of anything bad that does not fit the new person. Then we will live as God wants.

Scripture
James 3:13-16

Reflection
Have you got dust somewhere?
How can you get rid of it?
When?

Prayer
Father, this is so true! Without me even noticing, the dust, the wrong deeds, creep back into my spiritual home. Help me get rid of it so I can stand clean before You again. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.