Sweep My Own Porch

I remember my Mom telling me that I should take care of keeping my own porch swept and clean and then I wouldn’t have time to notice a neighbor’s dirty front porch. I think the point was that I have enough to care for with my own life and my own issues that I shouldn’t compare my life to everyone else. There are times when it’s hard not to notice the way other people who are not nice still seem to prosper. Jeremiah takes his complaint to the Lord. Check this out…

1 You are always righteous, Lord,

    when I bring a case before you.

Yet I would speak with you about your justice:

    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

    Why do all the faithless live at ease?

2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;

    they grow and bear fruit.

You are always on their lips

    but far from their hearts.

3 Yet you know me, Lord;

    you see me and test my thoughts about you. (Jeremiah 12:1-3a NIV)

Jeremiah is asking the Lord to consider punishment for those who don’t follow the Lord. He wants them to suffer somehow. The Lord assures Jeremiah that they have not slipped off His radar. I want to heed the advice of my Mom though and take a look at my own life. I’m not always good. My thoughts are not always pure. My motives are not always pure. I have a lot of work to do on my own life. I realize that the place that needs the most work is my heart. My heart is the control center of my behavior. I’m aware that my brain plays a very definitive role as well. My heart is the center of my emotion and devotion. The activity of my life flows from my heart. The Lord wants my heart to be clean and pure before Him so that the activity of my life will certainly honor Him. I have plenty of cleaning to do inside my heart before worrying about someone else’s heart.

Pressing On!

Dwayne