By Brother Matthew Henson

Robert Boyd Munger wrote the booklet, My Heart, Christ’s Home, in 1954. I was immediately drawn to this booklet when I was first introduced to it when I was on staff of Campus Life and Youth for Christ in Lexington, Kentucky in the early 2000s. In the opening section of the booklet, Munger writes, “After Christ entered my heart, in the joy of that newfound relationship, I said to him, ‘Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want you to settle down here and be fully at home. I want you to use it as your own. Let me show you around and point out some of the features of the home so that you may be more comfortable. I want you to enjoy our time together.’ He was glad to come and seemed delighted to be given a place in my ordinary, little heart” (3).

The rest of the booklet features the author and Christ going “room to room” in the author’s heart. Each room includes a conversation and a challenge about how this room will be part of his relationship with Christ. The conversation goes well. As the booklet is wrapping up, it seems all the rooms have been covered, but there is one more issue that must be discussed and engaged: The Hall Closet. Munger writes:

“I had given him access to the study, the dining room, the living room, the workroom, the rec room, the bedroom and now he was asking me about a little two-by-four closet. I said to myself, ‘This is too much! I am not going to give him the key.’ 

‘Well,’ he responded, reading my thoughts, ‘if you think I am going to stay up here on the second floor with this smell, you are mistaken. I will take my bed out on the back porch or somewhere else. I’m certainly not going to stay around that.’ And I saw him start down the stairs” (13-14).

In Mark 12:30 Jesus says, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” All is such a difficult word to live into in our lives. The act of “all our heart” challenges me to look at the intricacies of the relationships, possessions, and involvements I allow into my life on a regular basis. Who/What has my attention and my heart? Am I giving my whole heart to Jesus or am I seeking to keep back a “hall closet” of my own personal possessions where I don’t want Jesus to have ownership?

The Lenten Adventure invites us to pray with David in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” We are invited to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart…a fully surrendered life. Where in your life is Jesus inviting you to let him into the hall closet of your heart, where some of the leftovers from your old life or the Self are residing and beginning to bring a stench to your life? Would you invite Jesus to clean out this closet with you during Lent?

Prayer: Lord, I give you my whole heart. I want to love you with all my heart, not just a portion of my heart. I want you to have full control of my heart so that my life is no longer lived for me, but for you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.