I am.
I think my slobiness shows in a number of areas. It shows in my comatose attitude to order, organisation and tidiness. It shows in my relaxed response to domestic hygiene. It also shows in my largely indifferent approach to personal appearance.
This is not the first time I have come to this conclusion, nor will it be the last. I seem destined to retread this ground a little (hopefully in ever decreasing circles), as these things will possibly never become completely like a second nature to me.
My housemate asked me to do some long overdue cleaning this week, in preparation for her friends immanent arrival at the weekend. I was a little stubborn and, I daresay, reluctant to perform such a task (partly because I wrongly felt that it was mainly about creating a good impression). But as I performed this task I started to reflect again on the old adage 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'.
I don't want to overstate the case but, in the past, I have viewed all of those things as largely superficial. I have had disdain for them and, to an extent, those who I felt prioritised those things above the more important aspects of our life on earth. Relationships, spirituality, hospitality, charity, love.
I like the parable of the upwardly mobile farmer who builds the bigger barn but dies before he can fill it. The premise Jesus is illustrating is that it is infinitely better to concentrate on storing your treasure in heaven, where moth and rust cannot steal it away. I feel this is, in part a rebuke to the materialist who seeks only to improve their standing in this life but ignores the one to come.
And so for the longest time, I have deemed these outward appearances to be of little, and certainly temporal, consequence.
'Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart'
I would take this verse to lend support to my view. A view that still has some merit, in my opinion.
'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' is something I heard a lot in my childhood. To the extent that I think, at one point, I believed it came from the bible. I think I came to regard this saying, later, as hokum. What had a clean face to do with the state of your heart before God? True cleanliness is a spiritual issue, surely?
What I neglected to understand, however, is that these two sayings contain something deeper, something which is not so comforting as my slovenly heart would have cared to believe.
Firstly 'Man' does look to the outward appearance, but it is not, necessarily a comfort that he (God)looks on the heart instead. What is the state of the heart that takes no heed to its appearance?
I understand that the verse is primarily talking about stature, under substance|(and how God does not chose according to our criteria) but the inverse is true also.
You see the heart determines our actions (Out of the overflow of the heart, so speaks the mouth). So to be neglectful of what God has given you must show the state of a heart in disrepair or wilful rebellion. The problem is that I do not expect rebellion to look so, well, passive. But a stubbornness to be active is as good as a two fingered salute to God.
I think we need to reflect on Jesus most excellent condensation of the commandments to get a better idea of why these things are so important. He told us to love God with all our hearts and our neighbour as ourselves. Within this commandment is a third, well acknowledged aspect which seems to have been historically neglected; the command to love ourselves. But this trinitarian approach to the outworking of love shows Gods holistic nature. He wants love and respect to run through it all, like a stick of rock. If I care about my spirit/soul then I care about my body, I care about my possessions. They are not to own me but I am to own them, all be it lightly.
So to take an attitude of not caring about my affairs or appearance is to primarily reject Gods love. It is to devalue the worth that he has bestowed on humanity, when he came to restore his marred image in the hearts and lives of his children.
He wants us to take responsibility, He wants ME to take responsibility. Why else would confession and repentance be such a necessary part of the process of salvation. He wants us to own it. Cleanliness IS next to Godliness, in as much as it is part of a nurturing, stewarding and fostering of what he has given us.
That is not to say that we cannot still rail against the type of image crafting through posturing and preening and bragging in our appearance and possessions and the cleanliness of our houses. Those who seek those things have had their reward. People pleasing for the sake of our vanity is still as sinful as it ever was but I have come to see that there is more to this issue than my ironically shallow views had held. I even Judged people for their appearance of judging people (on their appearance) and thought THEM shallow??
This is not to say that you have to look conventional, or that our homes need to resemble some kind of showroom standard. There can still be such a thing as holy chaos (and grace is still the messiest factor in our salvation). It is simply that to excuse yourself from the responsibility of it, because it is unimportant, probably means that you have missed the point. It is nether all important nor unimportant. There is no unimportant aspect to the life of a child of God. His counting of sparrows and hairs should have at least taught us this.
