Spring Cleaning, Holy Spirit Style

Sitting in church this Sunday, the pastor referenced the verse in James that tells us the kind of religion the Father considers pure and faultless.  I quickly turned to the passage which concludes as follows:

 "...to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Thanks to my years in Christian School and Awanas, I actually remembered the first part about orphans and widows but it was that second part that grabbed my attention as I sat in the pew.  As a self-proclaimed rebel, I am here to tell you that I have been all sorts of polluted over the years.  I spent the better part of my twenties rebelling from the ultimate authority, God, and running into the arms of the world instead.  As His Word says, to be friends with the world is to be enemies of God.  Needless to say, I have a LOT of work to do if I plan on exhibiting the type of religion that James talks about in the above passage.

At that very moment I began praying that God would reveal to me the areas of my life in which I need to do a little "spiritual spring cleaning" to rid myself of the world's pollution.  He was quick to reply and I can't say that I was overjoyed at the answer. 

The Holy Spirit was whispering in my ear, "Amy, consider your wardrobe.  Does it proclaim that you follow Christ or the world?"  Even though it's been a while since I was in the bars every night, a few of my "party clothes" have hung around in my closet.  If you're not familiar with "party clothes" I'll give you some examples:

• one-shoulder tops
• halter tops
• low-cut (cleavage-revealing) tops
• short skirts & dresses

If you know me at all, you know my closet is a sacred place in my life.  I love fashion and have spent many a paycheck on jewelry, shoes, purses, and cute outfits to match! (That's right, I match my clothes to my accessories instead of the other way around.  I told you I'm a rebel!)  But the prompting of the Holy Spirit was undeniable.  Some of my fashions were entirely too worldly for a believer.  So, with a tear in my eye, I went home and began the purging process. Don't think for a second it was easy.  I went back and forth with one black top numerous times, taking it out, then hanging it back up, but it finally found a resting spot in the donation pile.  Speaking of which, here's a picture as proof of my purge:

So what's the point of all this?  Seeing as how I'm NOT the Holy Spirit, I'm not here to tell you that you too need to rid your drawers of their scandalous contents.  I am here to tell you that if you're a rebel like me, there are probably some areas in your life that are a little too "world-friendly", so to speak.  Because I sense that I'm not alone in this quest for a pure and faultless religion, I am going to make this blog part of a series called, "Rebelling Against Worldliness."  Together, let's show the world what true Godliness looks like by ridding our lives of the pollution.  Let's do some spring cleaning, Holy Spirit style!

(And for anyone who thinks they might need to start in their closet as well, read the Modesty Heart Check guide found here: http://www.trinitychurchminot.org/blog/modestyheartcheck.pdf )