Cleaning Out My Warehouse

For my first Marine Corps assignment as a Supply Officer,  I was my section's SLJO or "Crappy Little Jobs Officer."  



One of my jobs was to clean out a warehouse that was full of office furniture, barracks furniture, and other junk.  Picture a huge, neglected self-storage space.

Sergeant John Wise was my assistant, and he and I had to "figure out" what to do with each item.

For instance, we had 30 old mattresses.  First, Sgt Wise made an appointment with Base Disposal; then he scheduled a truck and a driver to transport the mattresses to Disposal. 

And I remember...an hour after he left with those mattresses, Sgt Wise called to say that he and the mattresses were on their way back.  What?!!

We learned that, before we could go to Disposal, we had to go to Base Repair.  Base Repair would inspect the mattresses and tag them as unserviceable.  More appointments, more vehicles.

And so it went for several months, until the day came when Sgt Wise and I stood in that empty, spacious warehouse.

As I congratulated us on being done, Sgt Wise pointed and said, "What about the office?"

I'd never noticed.  Right inside the warehouse, just a few feet from where I stood, was a decent-sized, modular office.   

"You mean there's more junk in there?"

"Yes, ma'am."

It never ends.
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And my heart is just like that warehouse; it's full of junk, of sin, thorns, issues that are burdens, stuff that I want to get rid of.  

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,  coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.  Mark 7:21-23

And because sin clings to me, it's difficult to get make it go away, to dispose of it.  I can't even do it.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  Jeremiah 17:9

But my God is the Great Supply Officer.  Through His Word and sacraments, He cleans out my warehouse, the rooms of my heart, issue-by-issue, sin-by-sin.  

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities...as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  Psalm 103:10, 12

It's not easy or fun, having your heart cleaned out.  And sometimes the same sin, the same dirt, comes back and needs to be removed again and again.

And, like that seemingly "invisible" office, there will always be rooms in my heart, that I don't even notice, until He points them out, and starts to deal with them.  

Not only does my Lord continually clean my heart, He gives me a new heart, one filled with His Spirit.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:26

And, until the day of death, I'll always be battling my heart.  But because of His Love, because of Jesus, His love is steadfast, and I can trust in Him to never leave me nor forsake me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.  Psalm 138:8