By Andrea Merrell

He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean,

washed by the cleansing of God’s word.

He did this to present her to himself

as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle

or any other blemish.

Ephesians 5:25-27

I felt something drop and realized it was one of my favorite earrings. A tiny one at that.

After retrieving it from the bathroom floor, my search for the back of the earring began. After looking for several minutes—and even feeling around on the carpet—I came up empty. That’s when I grabbed my cell phone, turned on the flashlight feature, and did a closer inspection.

Instead of a missing piece of jewelry, what I discovered was a very dirty floor. To the casual observer, the floor appeared clean. But turning on a bright light exposed all the little dust bunnies that had gathered along the bottom of the cabinet and baseboards. It was time for a good cleaning.

At times, our lives may appear perfectly in order while those dust bunnies of bad attitudes, unforgiveness, and unconfessed sin cling to the edges of our mind and heart. When we ask Him to, the Lord will graciously shine His light on all those places and give us the opportunity to do a deep cleaning with the water of His Word.

Sin is deceptive, and the Enemy is a liar. If not careful, we can be duped into thinking all is well when it’s not. Clean hands and a pure heart call for daily attention to all those little details we might otherwise miss.

Is it time for a cleansing in your life? Go ahead. Ask the Father to shine His light on those hidden places, then allow the Holy Spirit to wash away the debris.