Run to the basement

THE OLD PURSE

Some things will motivate you to do something, but some things will make you desperately get up and move into serious action. I couldn’t find my debit card!

I searched everywhere I usually would have put it. Frantically, I unloaded the contents of my purse. Honey, I mean every speck was emptied on the table. To my surprise, I also found new secret pockets down in the liner where you really had to dig and hunt. I guess over the past few months or maybe I should say a year, things in my purse got shifted around and trapped.

I shook the whole purse, turned it inside out, cleaned it all out, to find forgotten items buried deep inside. I also noticed that over time my purse was getting much heavier. I actually dreaded carrying it. It made my shoulder hurt. I even went to the doctor about my shoulder pain, and you know what he said? "I see your problem. You need to lose weight… in your purse!"  I would have to get a buggy every time I went to the store for my purse to ride in. I once asked someone to hold my purse and they nearly dropped it. What do you have in here, gold bricks? Honestly, some days there’s no telling what’s in there.

Obviously, it’s been a while since I cleaned it out. There were specks of trash, old gum, crumpled receipts, ink stains and the lovely smell of purse dirt. From the outside, this was a very nice purse! It was pretty, classy, no rips or tears, no stains, but on the inside… it was nasty, ratty and tore up! I really didn’t want to use it now or even keep it for later. What I really wanted was a clean purse for my stuff. 
A purse is an extension of a woman. We carry it everywhere, every day, and for quite a while, until it’s wore out and done with its job. Sure, I could have kept on using it, just put everything back in it, and zip it up. Besides, I was familiar with this purse, it would be so easy to do that. Just keep on using it until it fell apart or the zipper quit working or the strap broke. Once all my stuff was laid out in a pile on the table and I saw what came out, I knew it was time to do a thorough clean out. There’s no telling what is in there! Honey, I even found a spoon, I kid you not. Would you be embarrassed for YOUR purse to be dumped out on the table? Time to do a new thing.

After I saw the inside, even though my outside was looking good, I couldn’t continue, I had to do something. Just laying it all out there can feel kind of vulnerable. Everything is exposed!

You know It’s like that in our personal life with Jesus. On the outside we look like we have it all together and girl it looks good. We can zip it up, snap it shut, throw it over our shoulder and sashay right on by. Sometimes we forget what all we have inside. Sometimes we carry things we don’t need. Sometimes it gets so heavy causing us undue stress and pain. Would you agree that a new purse is a good feeling? You have just what you need in it. It’s all clean. No junk, no trash, no stains or weird purse smells.

Today is purse cleaning day. We are going to empty it, dump it all out. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast your care (anxiety), on Him because He cares for you.” There is nothing inside that Jesus doesn’t already know about. God’s word says in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He wants to help us clean it out and remove the burden and pain of carrying it on our own. We receive His forgiveness and cleansing. Release it, let it go, and get a fresh clean start.      In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the Bible says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” We become new in Christ! Such a relief.

Thank You God for teaching me a simple yet valuable life lesson through my old nasty purse and for the loving grace You freely give to us as we become brand new.