As you may know, my wife and I now live in Michigan.  As you undoubtedly know, it snows in Michigan.  Sometimes a lot!

One of the remarkable things I have noticed since moving here is that the folks in central Michigan do not mess around with accumulated (or accumulating) snow. 

After the worst of the snow has fallen … and sometimes even while it is still piling up … armies of snow soldiers suddenly appear on the battlefields in front of their houses.  This isn’t just a few people in front of a few houses, but a massive force of troops.

Some (like me) are limited to basic weapons like shovels.  Many others have more advanced technology and go on the attack with snow-blowers. 

Then there are the calvary divisions.  They are the ones driving 4-wheel-drive pick-up trucks with mounted steel blades … most with a single blade.  (However, the really impressive ones carry v-blades that can be positioned in a number of different ways to clear the snow.)  These heavily armed vehicles come to the rescue of those who hired them, and in a few well-articulated passes clear an entire driveway in just moments.  They are also the ones paid to shove the snow into huge piles in the local parking lots.

And we dare not forget the heavy artillery!  The huge city and county trucks that grade the snow off the streets … typically pouring out ice-melting materials as they go.  (Unfortunately, they also tend to refill the bottom of driveways already cleared out!  And if the accumulation is significant, this occurs a number of times!)

Our city even has effective little special units which clean the white stuff off the city sidewalks!  I’d never seen that before, but I’ve been out of the Midwest for many years.

These many winter warriors are really an inspirational sight to behold, and they fight a battle that is repeated over-and-over-again every time the snow and ice make a local “attack.”

The last time I observed the conflict, (as I slowly fought a path out of my drive with my shovel), I remember once again being duly impressed by my fellow soldiers visible in the front yards down our street.  And I thought, “If only we were all so dedicated to spiritual warfare as we are to battling snow.”

But most of us don’t tend to attack our personal deficiencies nearly as actively.  Most don’t strive to clean up our spiritual messes nearly as aggressively.

Maybe they’re not as obvious as a pile of snow … at least to us.  Maybe they don’t cause us as many inconveniences or even shut us down like a half-foot of white can.  Cleaning up our spiritual issues definitely doesn’t seem quite as pressing as clearing out our driveway so we can get to work or the grocery store.  Certainly there’s not the peer pressure present as on a half-mile long street lined with houses.

And yet clearing our hearts of negative spiritual accumulation is far more important!  Which is why the Lord repeatedly urges us to clean up our hearts and lives! 

It’s a recuring theme in both the Old and New Testament.  Why?  Because, as the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write, “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

God in his mercy and grace has made us his own, and Jesus’ blood has washed us clean.  But we are infected with a sinful nature, we are constantly under Satan’s attacks, and we live in wicked world.  Which means that as long as we live in this world, we are at spiritual risk.

So regular spiritual clean-up is a necessary thing!  The Scriptures provide beautiful descriptions of this purifying process, worked by God through God’s Word: 

Ezekiel described it this way: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities …  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you … I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

Paul wrote, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).

In the Midwest, snow removal is a necessary and frequent task.  But for Christians anywhere, a frequent cleaning of the heart and mind is far more crucial, even if it may seem less pressing.  Thanks be to God, He does fantastic work in us whenever we hearing or reading God’s Word! 

Of course, the spiritual cleaning process has more involved in it than just being in the Word actively.  But that’s where it starts!

So it’s important we go on the spiritual offensive and immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, and let the Lord lovingly attack our spiritual messes!  It’s the best and most necessary clean-up of all.