IT's Bin Day by mick Smith

I have just taken the rubbish bin outside ready for collection and it was windy, cold and raining but it needs to be done. Apparently it's my job to do that every single week (please don't think I'm complaining). The truth is that it may not be anyone's favourite job but it's one of those things that needs to be done for obvious reasons. As was once said, "You know it makes sense."

Can you imagine what it would be like if all our rubbish was just left to accumulate simply because no one wanted to take it outside to be collected? once the bin was full the rubbish could be piled up at the side of it and then spread out over the floor and, when that room became full, you could begin to fill another room just so that no one became upset at having to take it outside in bad weather. It would soon become unpleasant to say the least.

King Hezekiah (one of the good kings of Israel) had a bin day and what a bin day that was. It was on the first day of the first month of the first year of his reign (so it was a priority) that he ordered the rubble be cleared from the temple (God's house). 2Chronicles29:1-11. He opened the door of the temple so that the rubbish could be removed and the temple become uncluttered once again so that their ministry to God could continue.
Jesus lifted the concept of the temple in to the realm of the spirit when He spoke of His own body being a temple and you will remember the zeal He showed for the cleansing of His Father's house (that too was quite a bin day).

That set me thinking. We are all being built in to a temple fit for God's own dwelling place (Ephesians 2:20-22). The apostle Paul had no hesitation in reminding the Christians at Corinth of that truth (1Corinthians 3:16-17 & 6:19-20). In fact he reminded them twice! I wonder whether, at those times when we are caught up with the rubbish that builds up in the world, we are missing the point. It could be that our priority is to deal with the rubble that builds up in the temple of the living God.

Hezekiah's priority was to remove the rubble from the temple. Jesus' priority was to remove the rubbish from His Father's house. What does that mean for us? Let's ensure that the temple door (our heart) is opened so that the flow of the Holy Spirit is unhindered as He reveals to us any rubble that needs to be taken out.
Many things cause debris to build up in our lives that, in turn, cause our hearts to be closed; things like hurts, disappointments, apathy, resentment, dis-agreements, dis-approvals, bitterness & un-forgiveness. These are things that can soon build up, be unpleasant and become an hindrance.

It was God who initiated Hezekiah to order the rubble to be removed but it was the priests themselves who were given the job to remove it all. The truth is that we are all kings and priests in the kingdom of God so, as kings, let's make it our priority and as priests let's not let our rubbish accumulate. Instead let's get rid of it.

I know what you are thinking right now. We have already been made clean and that is certainly true but the lesson that the apostle Peter learned was that though he had already been made clean he still needed his feet washing (John 13:10).

Come on, it's bin day. It does make sense and actually it is my job just like it is your job.  And, guess what? It is a priority! Now there's a thought.

2 Chronicles 29:16-17 the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and they brought out all the un-cleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord in to the court of the house of the Lord and the Levites took it and carried it to the Brook Kidron. They began the work of sanctification on the first day of the month.

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