What does the Bible say about cleaning?
14“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” – Matthew 25:14-18 (NIV)
A few months ago, a good friend and new Christian asked me, somewhat jokingly, “what does the Bible say about cleaning?” I know the Bible has answers for anything and everything you could ever come up with to ask. So I prayed about her question and thought about it. I kept coming back to this parable. [You can read the whole parable at Matthew 25:14-30.]
In this parable, Jesus equates talents to money, but really a talent is anything God gives us. After all, everything on this earth is God’s — He just made us the managers of it. Later in this parable, the master comes back and wants to know what the servants have done with what he gave them. To both of the servants who doubled their talents, the master says “well done, good and faithful servant.” Both of these servants did well with what they were given. One was not better than the other simply because he was given 5 instead of 2 or because he made 5 more talents. They both did what they were supposed to do with what they were given.
For the servant who buried the one talent he was given, the master says “you wicked, lazy servant!” Ouch. The master continues by explaining that if the servant was worried about losing the talent, he could’ve at least went to the bank and deposited it there gaining interest. So what good is money if we bury it in the back yard? It’s a total waste!
God is our Master and He gives us talents according to our abilities. It’s our responsibility to take care of those talents — to use them as they should be used. When God blesses us with money, we give, invest and spend wisely. When God gives us a home, we keep it clean, make repairs and share our home with friends. When God gives us a few extra “free” minutes we didn’t already have something planned, we invest it in our relationships — with God, with family, with friends.
I know my friend was looking for advice on keeping her house clean and that’s something that I really detest doing myself. But the talents don’t have to be spotless. We just shouldn’t bury the talent in the dirt either. Somewhere in there, there’s a nice balance.
Prayer: God, thank you so very much for all of the talents you’ve given to me. Help me to know what I should be doing with each and every talent. Help me to not only take care of them, but to grow and multiply them that I may share them and bless others.
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Gee thanks…
I was hoping it would say “It’s okay if you don’t clean as long as you love me”
but I’ll take this advice…
Thanks for finding the answers for me…
Now what does it say about laundry?
I loathe cleaning. If there is one task I would love to hand off to someone else it’s cleaning. There was a point in the not so distant past that we had a cleaning lady come in twice per month. Those were the days. Thanks for the push and the wake up call…I need to clean.
Ya’ll don’t get me wrong — you don’t have to be clinically anal about your cleaning! But just think about the extra “stuff” we buy. If we were really using it, it probably wouldn’t get that dusty that quick. If we’re not using it, then why not give it away to bless someone else? Of course, I’m sitting here staring at a ton of my daughter’s school papers that need to be trashed. If I would just go through this stuff as it came in and had a plan for what I wanted to keep, then the clutter wouldn’t build up around me.
Something I accepted several months ago is that it’s ok to have someone come in and clean your house every so often. The benefits here have been amazing. I have a good friend whom I pay to come clean my house every 2 weeks. We talked one day about our respective jobs. She can come in and clean my house in about 2 hours, where it would take me probably 8-10 hours to do the same thing. Cleaning is her job though, and she knows all the good stuff to use for cleaning and all the good techniques. My specialties lie on the computer though. I would much rather do without some other extra things in order to make the payment to this. It’s been a blessing to my marriage as well.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I have the royal treatment by having someone come clean my home. I still am responsible for picking up things and putting them in their places (which by the way is creating much havoc around here as it is — yard sale time!). I also still clean up here and there when we do eat at home (which isn’t often really).
Maybe to help you get in the cleaning mood and also combine some worship with it, you could crank up some good Christian music and just dance through the house dusting and picking up things. Of course if you dance, you’ll also be getting your exercise too
Lisa-This is so right on! I never saw the fact that I wasn’t cleaning as being I wasn’t taking care of all that God has given me. I get so frustrated when my kids don’t take care of the new things that I give them. How much more frustrated must God be with me. Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I will be linking to it today!
Jenny
This is good advice…I am cranking up the gospel on praise 103.9 out of Philly…there is 1090 am all day in the NYC area, but the reception doesn’t always do.
I guess I will pray for the strength to clean. Sometimes people don’t realize that the way you were raised, particularly if one child was responsible for the majority of the cleaning or there was a parent who always complained about the cleanliness of the house, has a lot to do with one’s attitude about cleaning as an adult.
But I will remember I am cleaning for my own family now in my own home and to take care of the beautiful place I have been blessed with…because honestly many aren’t that lucky and many people are losing their homes at this time…
Be blessed!!
How true! It is so easy to forget this though. Thank you for putting it in that aspect for me. God Bless you!
Please pray for me that daily I will clean my home? It`s not bad, but I get depressed just thinking about it, I use to love to do it. I just want to glorify God in all I do & say. Thank you.