Extreme Makeover: Cleaning Lady

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Our Extreme Heart Makeover could also be called Trading Spaces. That’s exactly what we’re going to do today – get rid of our old selves and make room for Jesus.

How do you clean your room? Do you just pile everything up and throw it away? I’ve never been good at keeping my room clean – I’m just not an organized person. My mom has told me time and time again: when you clean your room, focus on one thing at a time, like cleaning your desk or your floor first, then going from there. Using this tried-and-true approach, we’re going to undergo a major cleaning of our hearts today.

If you like stuff (like me), it may be hard to say goodbye to some things. Your excuse? “But someday I’ll need that!” But when it comes to your heart, packrat disease gets dangerous. Everything you put into your heart – movies, music, drama, thoughts – needs somewhere to go. Good things can bunk with other good things, but negative things, like a steamy movie or explicit lyrics, can’t live in harmony with pure things, like reading your Bible or spending time with family. One has to go. So what’s it going to be? It takes a strong will to say, “No. I’m sticking with what I know is right, and I don’t need all that junk entering my mind.” If you find it easy to walk away from our culture’s toxins, you’re a rare gem of a girl. Let’s make room in our hearts for Christ, starting with the music we listen to.

Your Music
Music is likely a big part of your world. “Just like an audible strand of DNA, the collection of songs we call our own and store inside our iPods reveals something unique about us,” says writer and speaker Margot Starbuck. “I’ve noticed that the lyrics usually disclose something about my own heart.” Music can affect your mood, your relationship with God, your relationship with guys, your attitudes toward friends and family, and your worldview. Listening to positive, upbeat music gives you a hopeful outlook on life, whereas negative or explicit songs produce negative or explicit thoughts. It’s not rocket science, ladies. If your music features bad language, you will gradually be desensitized to it until you think it’s no big deal to swear, curse, or misuse God’s name. If you’re songs follow the huge lovesick trend of the typical hurtful dating scene, your view of relationships will change from God’s view to the world’s view. If you find yourself jamming to Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”, we’ve got another issue altogether. Put your iPod on shuffle, skip through the first 15 songs, and think hard about what you’re listening to. Do the lyrics glorify God or give you a positive worldview? Or are they hurtful, depressing, and less than what God wants for you? Go ahead, take the plunge. Delete (yeah, you heard me – delete) all and any songs that don’t line up with God’s standards. Now that you’ve freed up some storage space in your heart and your iPod, fill your ears with positive, uplifting songs and get your groove on. (Read more about how music affects you here.)
Your Movies & TV
Your movies also play a big role in how you see yourself and the world around you. People who soak up violent movies tend to be more violent. Hearing characters swear makes us think it’s OK. Watching movies with sex scenes give us the impression that premarital sex is OK. Come on, girls. In movies, a guy and a girl meet at a bar, exchange a few jokes, then rip their clothes off. This is not the real world, baby, but Hollywood doesn’t want you to know that. I know, it’ll be hard when your friends are going to the movie theatre to see that new horror flick and you refuse to go, but do you really want those images in your head?

What else is keeping you from letting Jesus rule your whole life? Maybe it’s your boyfriend, your peers, negative thoughts, hatred. If there is anything – anything – that is keeping you from giving Jesus the reins, get rid of it. It’s just hurting you. Think of these faith-blockers as huge zits. You can get a complete makeover and slap on some beautiful makeup, but if you’ve got a huge zit, you need to start from the ground up and get rid of it. Covering it up or just living with it won’t make it go away. It’s the same with bad movies, music, controlling boyfriends, or trendy friends. You need to get rid of the junk and let Jesus take control. Putting on a “good-girl” cream will not make your faith-blockers hit the road.

JOURNAL JOTS:
What are your faith-blockers? Write them down on a sheet of notebook paper. Ask God to give you the strength to let these things go. Wad up the paper and toss it in the trash can. Leave it there and walk away. Don’t go back for it.