At our church for the past 2 months there has been a horrible smell. There has been a lot of speculation as to the source. Something in the AC ducts? Cleaning supplies spilled in a nearby closet? An animal that wandered in there and died? Finally my husband found the source. A large container of insecticide had leaked out onto some wood and some bags of artificial flowers. The wood was thrown out, the flowers were gotten rid of. The container was disposed of. The closet was scrubbed, cleaned out and painted.
Finally this morning it clicked. There is a booklet written by Robert Boyd Munger, called "My Heart Christ's Home", that talks about a person who has given his life to Christ. First he invites the Lord into his home, beginning in the Living room, the Lord lives in every place in the house. Finally He comes to this:
"The Hall Closet
There is just one more matter that I might share with you.
One day I found Him waiting for me at the door.
An arresting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me,
"There is a peculiar odor in the house. There is something dead around here.
It's upstairs. I think it is in the hall closet." As soon as He said this,
I knew what He was talking about. Yes, there was a small closet up there on the landing,
just a few feet square, and in that closet, behind lock and key,
I had one or two little personal things that I did not want anyone to know about
and certainly I did not want Christ to see them.
I knew they were dead and rotting things left over from the old life.
And yet I loved them, and I wanted them so for myself that
I was afraid to admit they were there.
Reluctantly, I went up with Him, and as we mounted the stairs
the odor became stronger and stronger.
He pointed at the door. "It's in there! Some dead thing!"
I was angry. That's the only way I can put it.
I had given Him access to the library, the dining room, the living room,
the workroom, the playroom, and now He was asking me about a little two-by-four closet.
I said to myself, "This is too much. I am not going to give Him the key."
"Well," He said, reading my thoughts, "if you think I'm going to stay up here
on the second floor with this odor, you are mistaken.
I will take my bed out on the back porch. I'm certainly not going to put up with that."
Then I saw Him start down the stairs.
When you have come to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen
is to sense His fellowship retreating from you.
I had to surrender. "I'll give You the key," I said sadly, "but You'll
have to open the closet and clean it out. I haven't the strength to do it."
"I know," He said. "I know you haven't. Just give me the key.
Just authorize me to take care of that closet and I will."
So with trembling fingers I passed the key to Him. He took it from my hand,
walked over to the door, opened it, entered it, took out
all the putrefying stuff that was rotting there, and threw it away.
Then He cleaned the closet and painted it, fixed it up, doing it all in a moment's time.
Oh, what victory and release to have that dead thing out of my life!"
I've had some things rotting away in my heart for the past few years. I try and try to take care of it myself, but can't seem to do it. Maybe all along the Lord has been waiting for me to just ask Him. I'm ready for the rotten smell to go.
