Decluttering Is Good For The Soul

By Pr Dr Jeremy Chew

I have been thinking of moving nearer to GPC, hence recently I have started to look for a HDB flat on this side of Singapore. At the same time, it also means that I am putting up my current flat for sales. Before my agent came to take photos of my unit to put it up on the website for potential buyers to see, I cleared out the unnecessary clutter so that my home would look neat and spacious on the listing. It’s common sense to me. But when I visited the houses of potential sellers, it was not like that.

One particular apartment was really so bad that describing it as “repulsive” would be an understatement. First the floor was slimy when I walked in on my bare feet. Then there was an unwelcoming stench in the air. Though this unit boasted of a floor area of 1,212 square feet, the house was so cluttered that there was little space to move around. The seller’s agent said to me nonchalantly, “Don’t look at the mess, just imagine this house without the stuff.” Hah!

This brings my mind to the 11th chapter of Mark’s Gospel where Jesus drove out the merchants in the Temple (Mk 11:17). I used to think that Jesus was angry because these sellers were daylight-robbing the people and that’s why Jesus said that they had turned God’s house into a den for robbers. This was probably true, but Jesus was more upset because they were selling in the Court of Gentiles—the only place in the Temple where Gentiles were allowed to worship. The commotion and clutter of the marketplace made it impossible for the Gentile worshippers to come to the Lord.

As we talk about mission this month, we will be hearing from excellent speakers about how we can be reaching the lost as a church and as a family. We will be challenged to think of the unreached across the seas as well as in our community. Are there things in our lives that are preventing nonbelievers from coming to Jesus? Have our possessions and behaviors become obstacles to people knowing Christ? Have we in anyway become stumbling blocks of the gospel?

It’s time to declutter, not just our homes, but also our lives. The apostle Paul, in 2 Tim 2:21-26 exhorts that “if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” It’s time to clean up our lives. Decluttering is good for the soul.