I’m pretty sure that every executive manager I’ve ever met thinks manufacturing facilities smell like fresh paint.  Every time an executive visit is scheduled to visit a plant I’ve worked in, local management has spent money repainting all the walls, safety pillars, aisle markers, etc. to make them look new and clean.  All the workstations get extra cleaning, machines get wiped down, and the floors get waxed.  It’s obvious we really want to make or maintain a good impression on the physical condition of the plant and offices. 

To be fair, it’s not a bad thing to refresh the paint and clean the floors.  We all catch the spring-cleaning bug  at some point and make a big project of catching up on our cleaning and refreshing. 

If you’re familiar with 5S principles, and even if you’re not, you’re probably already thinking, “shouldn’t we just keep it clean all the time?”  Of course, we should.  You honestly never really know when a visitor will show up or if you’ll have enough time to clean before they arrive!

We can easily take this example and apply it to keeping the house, yard, car, or garage clean.  Can we make the link to our lives?  We’re told the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  Does a thief call you up and let you know when to expect him?  Jesus gave Zacchaeus no notice at all that he was coming to his house.  Whether his physical house was in order or not we can plainly see he knew his spiritual house was not.

It’s much less embarrassing to receive guests at a moment’s notice when we keep the house clean.  Can we make the spiritual connection?