After I graduated from Dallas Seminary, waiting on my first ministry, I went home to live with my mother. My mom gave me chores. She said, "One of your jobs is to take out the trash, Son." So every week I put out the garbage.

One week I forgot to put out the garbage. Garbage has a way of making itself known. It began to smell. Every day we kept piling more garbage onto it. It even began to spill over, and it was right where you came into the back of the house. Every time we went into the house we would get a whiff of it.

The aroma began to seep into the house and infected the atmosphere. Then it started to infect my mom's relationship with me. Every time she looked at me, it was as if she were saying, "Why don't you take out the garbage?"

The next week, I took out the garbage. The atmosphere cleaned up. Our relationship was better. Everything was okay.

My brothers and sisters, if you don't take out the garbage on a daily basis, it piles up. It begins to stink. It can pollute your relationships and cause you to move further away from people. So if we want to be cleansed by God, we must confess to God and put out the garbage on a daily basis.