Is Cleanliness really next to Godliness?

I don’t know about you but when we have visitors arriving there is often an all hands on deck time before they come, to clean up the house.  I must confess, I do like the house always being in general order but total cleanliness is not my strength.  This seems to be something I have passed on to my kids. When I announced this morning that the house needed to be clean because people were coming for lunch, my youngest asked if she had to clean her room too as no one was going to see it and my eldest looked at me as if to say, Really?!”   I of course replied with a typical parental statement, “Is that what it is all about, only cleaning what other people can see?”  I could see my daughter roll her eyes and giving me the look that said, “O Mum, please don’t make a life lesson out of this, we are just cleaning the house!”

As I began vacuuming, (which is immediately satisfying but very quickly needs doing again with a dog like ours), I was wondering how I would live if no one ever came into my house?  Our house has always had an open door and we love having people over, so this means I regularly stay on top of the housework to ensure it is in an acceptable state for unexpected visitors.  I asked myself, if I had a space that I knew no one would ever see, what would it look like?   I then had to ask myself, “Why do I clean the house mostly when people are coming over and would I do this if my house was not so open to visitors?”

There are many levels to this personal challenge........my mind began to go wild with questions and reflections?

• Am I concerned about what people will think of me if my house is not perfectly clean or is it just being a good example to the people I do life with?


• Is cleanliness really next to Godliness? (I am sure that is not in the Bible!)


• God sees every part of us, so keeping clean and ordering the parts of our life that are hidden to others makes us personally authentic. Maybe this is also why it is good to live in community because it keeps you on your toes about who you really are.  It is harder to hide when people are always around. 


• A little bit each day, is a great Biblical principle of not letting things build up and to stay clean and fresh each day. If we live in a way that is authentically clean spiritually, with regular rhythms of time with God and the things that matter, then we are ready at any time to give an account of who we are in Christ.


• How can we help our young people learn the importance of the general maintenance that is required to live an ordered and clean life in the areas that count? How can we help them to do more than the bare minimum and stop trying get away with as much as they can?

All this while I am vacuuming.....I know it is scary where my mind can go....and it didn’t stop there.......!

My Daughter kept asking if she could stop cleaning and cook cupcakes for our visitors and in the meantime was continually getting distracted with her phone. 


My son, learnt the hard way what happens when you leave something way too long....and then proceeded to do a ¾ job because the vacuum cord couldn’t stretch as far as he needed so he decided to stop at that point thinking that was good enough.  

I say this not to bag out my kids, they are just being normal.   Let’s face it, cleaning the house, like most chores are not something NORMAL people like to do!  (Sorry couldn’t resist a jab at the clean freaks).  I would much rather make cupcakes or be happy with “near enough, is good enough” but I know some things are necessary, like the everyday disciplines of our spiritual walk.  Maybe cleanliness is next to Godliness after all, or more correctly “cleanliness is LIKE Godliness”.  It is a daily discipline that helps is stay close to God and be able to be an authentic example to those we do life with,  to show others that we are who we say we are, even when no one is watching.

In Matthew 24: 45-51, Jesus warns us to ALWAYS be ready for when he comes back.

“Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.

^48-51 “But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases—abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends—the Master is going to show up when he least expects it and make hash of him. He’ll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.”

Are we ready for anything? Are we living in a way that honours and glorifies God?   When people open our doors, what do they see?  I am talking about more important things than a clean home... clean living is a discipline that can start with the small things, the everyday things.  Lord help me to live daily in such a way that my children and the community I do life with see a life that is ready to give an account, that is authentic and that desires to have God in the centre = GODLINESS