Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Or so the saying goes.  I kicked off my Spring Cleaning yesterday by tackling my office.  Fortunately for me, I'm not the kind of person who thrives in clutter, so cleaning my office isn't so much about picking up and putting away as it is about actual cleaning - dusting, vacuuming. mopping and the like.  I don't like cleaning my office, which is why it gets so dirty before I'm sufficiently motivated to clean it, but I LOVE having a clean office.  There's just something about a clean work place that makes me feel better about myself.

The notion that cleanliness is next to Godliness has unclear origins.  Some suggest that it dates back to Hebrew writings, though they admit that the phrase does not come from the Hebrew Scriptures.  Others attribute it to Sir Francis Bacon's "Advancement of Learning," where he wrote, "Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a

due reverence to God."   That seems like a stretch to me.  The origin of the phrase in my life was my grandmother, who liberally sprinkled it about whenever we'd complain about having to clean something up.  It always seemed to work.  How can you argue against Godliness?

 

For me, the phrase is aspirational and sometimes even motivational.  It gives me hope in a messy world that things can be straightened up.  It gives me the comfort of knowing that slates can be wiped clean, and fences can be mended.  It inspires me to clean up my life so I can be a better example for my daughters and others.  

God loves us equally in our messiness and our cleanliness.  He never stops drawing us to the purity and perfection of his life, no matter our condition, simply because he wants to share his life with us. That's what Godliness is all about. Cleanliness isn't a condition of God's love; but it sweeps away the clutter so we have the room to receive it.  And when we receive God's love, we always feel better about ourselves.  Happy Spring Cleaning!