Be Diligent 

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.       – Proverbs 8:17

The idea of spring cleaning makes some people groan. However, as winter ends and houses are opened up to gentle warming breezes, the sunlight flickering off the dust floating in the air tells you spring cleaning time has come! The custom of spring cleaning itself may come from historic Jewish preparations for Passover when homes must be cleaned of any leaven and bread made with yeast, down to the crumbs, collectively called chametz. One set of instructions for pre-Passover cleaning says you should buy new cookbooks, as you may have accidentally transferred yeast from your fingers onto one of the pages or a bit of it fell from the tip of a toothpick used to determine the doneness of a loaf. In all spring cleaning instructions, the key is to be diligent about it.

God desires diligence from His followers in their pursuit of Him. Be diligent when you study your Bible. Be diligent in your prayer life. Be diligent in joining with others in worship. Be diligent in proclaiming the Gospel. Be diligent in your giving. Diligence grows out of obedience. An outgrowth of such diligence is righteousness and holiness. J.I. Packer stated, “No Christian drifts into holiness. The flesh is too weak, the devil too deceitful, and the world too alluring.” He said discipline and diligence are required, adding, “No diligence, no holiness.” 

Unlike seasonal cleaning, diligence in pursuit of knowing God needs to be done daily. The psalmist said, “With my whole heart I seek you” (Psalm 119:10). Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish theologian in the 1800s, wrote, “Oh, if ye saw the beauty of Jesus, and smelled the fragrance of his love, you would run through fire and water to be at him.” Pray for Christians in America to be diligent in the things of the Lord in such a way as to draw others to Him.