This post by kathylarkman was originally published at GRACE PLACE
PAT FUGGLE, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
At the beginning of a new year we hear a lot about diets, healthy living & decluttering! Living in a retirement village I am surrounded by older people desperately trying to hold on to their health mainly through exercise! As we downsized over three years ago to an apartment with very little storage, we are experts in decluttering & have to assess constantly whether we actually need certain ‘things’. But do we declutter our minds & spirits?
I was reminded of some wise words which I still remember from a pastoral training session I attended in my 30s!! “There is no such thing as an embittered old man or lady! The bitterness starts in our youth & is exacerbated in our old age. So get sorted now!’
Those words motivated me to seek help from an older woman to repent of resentment in my life. That has helped me to recognise when I start thinking in this way when I’ve been hurt or I feel that I have been treated unfairly but also to recognise it in others.
Titus 2 v.3 says ” teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women …’
I learned a lot from a reverent older woman especially through the ups & downs of family life & am now encouraged that younger women feel that they can ask my advice from my experience of God’s faithfulness.
Do you need to declutter your minds & spirits? Do you feel, as I did, that other people have hurt you & let you down & so you’re harbouring resentment? I discovered that holding onto the resentment was doing far more harm to me than to the person who had hurt me.
The good news is we can lay all our hurts and resentment at the foot of the cross & receive the forgiveness that only Jesus can give. God gives us each other to teach and encourage one another to “declutter” our minds and spirits as we mature in Christ. Only the grace of The Lord Jesus Christ changes us.
We are encouraged in Titus 2:11-14:
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God & Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
So as you declutter your home this New Year, ask God to show you how He can help you declutter your mind and spirit!