Spring is here. I know this because the pollen count is around 9 out of 10. I do not need to check this on an official site, my eyes are evident and well as my nasal intruder defense mechanism. (Excuse me while I grab a tissue).

As spring arrives many of us will get busy around the house. You may work in flower beds, you might work on the lawn, weeding, trimming, etc.  Some will plant a vegetable garden. You may give the inside of the house a good cleaning, including all the windows. I am planning on getting the pressure washer out and taking care of some things outside.

I encourage you not only to clean your physical house, but take some time to focus on your spiritual house. No, not the church building – YOU. The temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of God and Christ.

Make certain your faith, your religion is authentic. Authentic in the sense that your faith impacts the way you live. James would tells us that faith that does not impact our life’s choices and actions is in fact not faith at all and in dead ( cf. James 2:17).

Just a few paragraphs earlier James says, “But be doers of the word, and not hears only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22). Faith that makes a difference in our lives is faith that puts God’s word into action. Anything else is unfaithfulness.

Consider the context of James 1:22-27,

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

As you clean house, make these changes in your spiritual walk.

• Compare yourself to God’s standard – The Word of God

• Be a Doer that acts on what you learn from God’s Word

• Simply talking a good religion is worthless. Walk it!