Jesus is not Your Maid

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33

When I was a child, we had a housekeeper named Helen.  She spent three days a week at our house, and the other two at my grandmother’s house.  Helen would clean, do laundry, run errands…the things that needed to be done to keep a house in order.  In my very young mind, I simply thought of Helen as a maid.

I didn’t see Helen much during the school year; she would arrive after I’d already hopped on the bus, and she was gone before I got home.  But during the summer, I would see Helen on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  I didn’t pay her much attention, except when it was time for lunch (peanut butter and jelly with the crust cut off, thank you).  After finishing my sandwich, and two episodes of “I Love Lucy” that aired each day during the lunch hour (that’s how I fell in love!) I went back to my world of My Little Ponies and coloring.

Helen would usually straighten up my room in the morning, which meant by the afternoon, I had already destroyed most of her hard work.  It wasn’t that I didn’t care; I was just so accustomed to Helen cleaning things up, the thought never crossed my mind to help her out, or to be more respectful of my belongings.

One afternoon, Helen finally reached the point of saying something.  She had just finished my laundry, and upon reaching the top of the stairs and peering into my room, a great sigh of exhaustion escaped.  “Kristin, I don’t know what you do in the few hours after I’ve finished.  In all my life, I have never, ever seen a room this messy!”  And that was it.  She put away my laundry, and went back downstairs.

A feeling of guilt and shame washed over me, as I scanned the room and the destruction left in my wake.  Crayons everywhere.  Dozens upon dozens of Barbies and My Little Ponies strewn across the floor.  Every piece of costume jewelry my grandmother had given me, along with an extremely large button collection, dumped all over my bed.  You absolutely could not see the floor.

 Helen never said another word to me about my room, but after that afternoon, I made an effort to take better care of my things.  I also started finding other ways around the house to help…cleaning up the kitchen, sweeping the back porch, small chores that I knew would make Helen’s day a little bit easier. 

As an adult reflecting back on those summer months, I realize how many times in life we think of Jesus as just our maid.  We can make a big mess (intentionally or unintentionally), and just expect that we can walk away, and He’ll clean it up for us – with no effort on our part.  After days, weeks, months or even years of living in the “mess”, with no end in sight, we can grow frustrated, not understanding why the Big Guy isn’t doing his “job.”

 
Helen wasn’t really a maid; she was our housekeeper.  The same goes for God.  He’s not your maid, sitting in wait for a foxhole prayer so he can jump in and save the day.  This isn’t to say that God doesn’t do those things, because He surely does, but it’s not how we should be living our lives.  We can’t have total disregard for our “house” and expect him to step in and tidy up for us when the pictures are falling of the mantel and the dust bunnies are taking over the living room.
 
God is your housekeeper – the keeper of your house.  God has given you life, blessed you with “things” that are not yours to keep (for we are not of this world).  Our responsibility is to respect these things, take care of these things, and do His work with these things.  We are given the responsibility of using His gifts to us to further His kingdom; witnessing to others, planting seeds of faith, helping those in need (and that means all people – not just the easy ones).  You’ll find that if you follow plan, instead of your own, your house won’t be so messy. 

As intimidating as cleaning up those big messes may seem, don’t wait until the Christmas decorations from 1998 are collapsing the shelves in the garage.  Start your relationship, or begin to deepen your relationship, with God right now.  Know that keeping God at the top of your daily to-do list is the best way to avoid a big mess.  He'll keep your house in order.