The Gospel of Cleaning

I want to tell you two stories.
I want to tell you two miracles.

The first happened 2,000 years ago the second 2 mins (probably long now) ago.

Story One: Dead Man lives!

The first story is the recorded in John's Gospel Chapter 11.
It is the story with the shortest Bible verse, "Jesus wept"

But why was Jesus crying? Was he prophesying the pain I would have as a pirates fan? No! Though, I believe He feels my pain.

His tears were a result of his friend dying. His name was Lazarus.

Jesus is greeted in the town of Bethany by Lazarus' two sisters: Mary and Martha. They individually tell him of the death and individually blame Jesus for not showing up in time.

"If you would have been here my brother would not have died!"

Jesus then tells them how 'He is the Resurrection and the life."

You see, this death thing is only temporary. It does not have the final say.

He walks over to the grave of his dear friend and declares, "Lazarus, come out."

This man was dead for 4 days! Yet when Jesus called he returned to life.

Story Two: Garage is cleaned!  (mostly)

We have a garage where we park Jasmine's car.

It was last cleaned (probably) in late 2013. We bought the house in April of 2018. Since buying the house we made this outdoor garage dirtier.

Im talking leaves, grass (which is now hay, is that how that works?), pizza boxes, dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Oh yea, rat turds.

I hate cleaning but when Jasmine told me she and Neil were going over to a friend's tonight I decided to tackle it. Hours later it is much better.

But I couldn't help but think of the story of Lazarus.  And I couldn't help but think about Jesus.

Because when I look at my life I see dirt. 

I mean you don't see it (or maybe you are polite and overlook my shortcomings) but we all have rat crap in our hearts. 

Yet Jesus loves us. And He wants to save us.

And when I say "save us" I don't mean "say a prayer" and I don't mean "send us to heaven."

I literally mean "save us"

He wants to change us and restore us. But why?

I mean if I'm a better person what difference does it make? If my character is developed and I act like Jesus and love those around me does it matter?

I mean in 100 years no one will remember me. I mean probably not.

But Jesus still wants to restore

So Jesus is kinda acting interesting.

Did Jesus know he was going to raise Lazarus from the grave? Yes.

So why did he cry?

Did Jesus know Lazarus would die years later? Yes

So why bother raising him from the grave if he would die years later?

Wrap it up!

The Gospel is Good News. The Gospel is restorative.

And more than that its a preview of Heaven.

The more hope I release to those around me the more I am living in heaven now!
The more joy I release to those around me the more I am living in heaven now!
The more forgiveness/love/kindness I release the more I am living in heaven now!


So why care? Because I believe ever act makes a difference.

So let Jesus clean the Rat Crap of your heart daily so you can in turn love others!