Keeping clutter under control seems to be a battle I’m constantly fighting and sometimes losing. As a friend of my husband’s once said, an open surface just seems to invite you to put something on it. It’s easy to set things on the nearest convenient space thinking we’ll deal with them later. Unfortunately, clutter can quickly make us feel overwhelmed and disorganized. In fact, organizational experts will tell you that the minute or two it takes to put things in their proper place can save you a lot of time and energy later. But what about spiritual clutter? Could spiritual clutter lead to a sense of hopelessness and lethargy in our spiritual lives? Worse yet, could it be hindering our relationships with God?

8 Ways to Rid Yourself of Spiritual Clutter – Part 1

What Does Spiritual Clutter Look Like?

Physical clutter is easy to recognize. It’s the purse, the shopping bags, the unsorted mail, the sweater you wore yesterday, and the unwashed dishes. Spiritual clutter might not be as obvious but it’s just as real as those dirty glasses and junk mail.

Spiritual clutter can cause us to feel overwhelmed and vaguely unsettled. Sometimes it can even lead to anger or fear and worry. And left unchecked it can make us feel disconnected from God.

So, what kinds of things might be spiritual clutter in our lives?

Busyness & Refrigerators

There is an online class that I signed up for two years ago. Yep, two years ago and I have yet to complete it. Why? Because of what some have called the tyranny of the urgent. I’m busy, like most of you. And there is always something that seems to be screaming for my attention. So, even though the other things in my life and ministry would greatly benefit if I completed that class, I keep putting other things ahead of it.

And sadly, it’s not just optional things that our busyness can keep us from doing. Too often, it’s our relationship with God … prayer, bible reading and quiet time with Him, even Sunday worship.

The problem is we are a lot like refrigerators. If the power goes out, the food in the fridge will keep pretty well for the first 24 hours, maybe even 48. But by day three disconnected from the power source, things will start to stink! You get the picture. When we get disconnected from God, we can start to drift and start thinking in unbiblical, even ungodly ways. We start to stink.

When we get disconnected from God, we can start to drift and start thinking in unbiblical, even ungodly ways. We start to stink. #God #quiettime #soulsurvival

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Procrastination

As much as I hate to admit it, left to myself, I could easily become the queen of procrastination. I have to fight against it all the time. By the grace of God, I’m better than I used to be. Don’t misunderstand me. I stay busy all the time, but there are times when I have some big task to accomplish and instead of diving in, I’ll do all kinds of other (good) things as I circle around the one thing I should focus on. In a way, it’s a kind of inertia. For me, getting started is half the battle.

Laziness

Proverbs has a lot to say about laziness. It teaches us that laziness will lead to poverty (Prov. 10.4), that a lazy person is wasteful (Prov. 12.27, 19.24), and that she’ll crave things and not get them (Prov. 13.4). A lazy person has all kinds of excuses about why he won’t work (Prov. 22.13) and Proverbs 12.4 says someone else will force a lazy person to do what she won’t do herself. That doesn’t sound good to me.

And laziness will not only keep us from physical work but will keep us from having a servant’s attitude and from practicing the spiritual disciplines consistently with the same result as busyness. We start to stink!

Selfishness & Self-Focus

2 Timothy 3 says this:

¹But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these (NASB).

Notice that lovers of self is at the top of that list. Our culture has probably never been more self-focused than it is today. And Christians are not immune to it. But an unhealthy focus on self can be one of the most dangerous kinds of spiritual clutter.

Life becomes all about “me” and “my rights.” We fail to see God’s blessings and thankfulness goes out the window. People become obstacles to our happiness. As Paul Tripp has said, it’s no longer about the kingdom of God, but our own little shrink-wrapped kingdom.

Unconfessed Sin

A year or so ago, I read a book by Jerry Bridges entitled Respectable Sins. In it he talks about sins like anxiety, frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, gossip, pride, impatience, irritability, envy, and judgmentalism. We sometimes consider these and others more like minor character flaws rather than serious sin issues. But he says, “The truth is, all sin is serious because all sin is breaking God’s law.”

If you have found yourself saying or thinking things like, “It’s not that bad,” “I know it’s wrong but I’m just a work in progress,” “At least I’m not as bad as so-and-so,” “Well, I know God forgives me,” you might be holding on to some sins that seem excusable or somehow respectable as Jerry Bridges calls them.

Of course, it goes without saying that other more obvious sins like anger, bitterness, and substance abuse are going to create havoc in our lives, as well, often affecting our relations with both people and our Heavenly Father.

We all know the story in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve ate the fruit they had been forbidden to eat. The text says that they knew they were naked. This was more than a lack of clothes. They realized they were vulnerable, exposed. They experienced guilt and shame for the first time and they tried to hide from God.

When we sin, we too, want to run and hide from God. Our own consciences condemn us and we’ll avoid spending time with the One who can help us deal with our sin and rebellion (1 Jn. 1.9).

All sin hurts our testimonies, ruins our relationships with others, and leads to more and more sin. It’s spiritual clutter of the worst kind.

Unforgivenss & Bitterness

Two sins that will clutter our spiritual lives in devastating ways are bitterness and unforgiveness. Hebrews 12 says:

¹⁴Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

Bitterness doesn’t just clutter our hearts and lives, it will eventually defile others.

And in Matthew 6, Jesus said this:

¹⁴For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

While as genuine believers, we won’t lose our salvation, neither will we receive the cleansing we need for our ongoing sins and struggles. In effect, we throw up roadblocks in our relationship with God.

Wallowing

The flip side of unconfessed sin is wallowing in sin that we have confessed and repented of. It often leads to thoughts like, “I know God has forgiven me, but I can’t forgive myself.” What we are saying is, “I have a higher standard than God.” If we have repented and asked God for forgiveness, we need to receive it and rest in His grace.

Whether we’re wallowing or tempted to give up because we believe we have repeated the same sin over and over, it’s easy to lose hope that we will ever change. The answer is the gospel in its full scope. But I’ll talk more about that next week.

Fear, Worry & Anxiety

Fear, worry, and anxiety can cause us to take our eyes off God as we focus on ourselves and our circumstances. They can take so much time, thought, and energy that we have little time to think about anything else. If you’d like to know more about how fear, worry, and anxiety affect our lives, you might check out my recent series on the subject. See the links below.