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“Why didn’t you get out of bed and come hold my hair in a ponytail while I threw up last night?” That question was aimed at my oldest daughter from one of her four roommates during her freshman year at college.

I loved my daughters’ response. “That’s not my job. You didn’t return from partying until two in the morning!”

Roommates. We’ve all had good ones and bad ones. Fortunately, my daughter was given permission by the University physician to move into a new dorm room due to her asthma, which was irritated by another one of her roommates who smoked weed.

Don’t we have junk in our lives that affects the people we rub shoulders with? You may have selfishly said, “Nobody’s perfect. This is who I am. Deal with it.” But is that an honest solution to your issues?

When Jesus left planet earth He sent the Holy Spirit to us as a counselor, a comforter, and a convictor, amongst other roles. Some folks aren’t prepared for the hard changes in their lives when they ask Him to take up residence in their hearts.

The Holy Spirit will not room with bitterness, lust, and unforgiveness, to name a few. Our junk stands in complete opposition to the holiness of the living God. Hence, the miserable feeling we experience when we try to play it both ways.

Luke quotes Jesus. “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.” (11:23-25, NLT, emphasis-mine)

A lot of people have had more time on their hands due to being furloughed as a result of the Coronavirus. So they cleaned out their garage, their closets, and even their attics. But what about the heart? Does it need to be cleaned out?

What’s beneficial about taking an inventory of our hearts? Jesus continues talking in Luke. “Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.” (11:35-36, NLT, emphasis-mine)

The journey of following God is difficult because we keep getting in the way of what He wants to do in and through us. But if we clean house, and make room for just one person in our hearts—the Holy Spirit, then that frees God up to do miraculous things we never could have imagined.

Paul asks us, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:16, NIV) 

What roommate do you need to kick out of your heart? How will you follow through with your answer?

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