Important: A Clean-up

Descipleship

19And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they added up the prices of the books and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

– Acts 19:19
(NASB® © 2020)

A clean-up. What sounds like environmental protection or large-scale house cleaning for Christmas is, in spiritual terms, the beginning of a revival. Whenever there was a revival among God’s people, we read about a clean-up first: idols were cleared away, altars pulled down, hearts freed from filth. Just think of Gideon (Jud 6:25-27) or Josiah (2 Chr 34:3-7).

A very interesting example the former magicians from Ephesus, who burned their magic books after their conversion: “And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:19).

This fact is particularly interesting because the value was only calculated after the burning. The young converts apparently didn’t care what value they were burning (almost half a million euros by today’s standards). They wanted a radical clean-up.

If they had calculated the value beforehand, they might have thought twice about this huge sum. “Are we really going to burn that much?”, “We’ve put so much money into it!”, “Can’t we just get rid of some of it first?” etc.?

But no – radical devotion requires radical means. The Lord Jesus puts it this way – even if this statement goes even further than just a clean-up: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33).

A clean-up can hurt. Devotion costs something. But the newly converted Ephesians didn’t care: “No matter how valuable these idols are – our Lord is more valuable to us!”

If you can’t get rid of the thought that you should clean up something specific in your life – let yourself be encouraged to do so today. The Lord will reward you!

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