TRASH IT | Time for Some Holy Housekeeping | Introduction

What if “take out the trash” is the most freeing spiritual practice you try this year? In this episode, we turn a familiar household chore into a vivid, practical metaphor for discipleship, using Ephesians 4:22–23 as our anchor: throw off what doesn’t belong and let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Instead of organizing our clutter, we talk about removing it—clearing space for God’s new work in a new season.

We walk through the difference between obvious sin and subtle weights that still slow us down, drawing on Hebrews 12:1 to name what hinders our race. From there, we lay out four honest categories that shape the weeks ahead: unhealthy inputs we consume, unhelpful habits that drain focus, ungodly emotions we’ve stored rather than surrendered, and false narratives that distort how we see God, ourselves, and others. Each theme begins with Scripture, moves to simple questions—what, why, how—and ends with small steps of obedience that make room for renewal.

This is devotion-driven discipleship in everyday language: seek God personally, speak about him intentionally, and lead those entrusted to you without handing them a to-do list. You’ll hear a gentle, clear invitation: when the Spirit puts a finger on what needs to go, “trash it,” and let Him transform what remains. 

Ready to start the year with less weight and more freedom? Listen, share with a friend, and spend some time HERE in the devotion-driven discipleship guide. 

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

Transcript

A Chore Becomes A Metaphor

SPEAKER_00 0:04

There's one chore almost every family I know has in common. No matter what the age or stage, at some point, someone in the household hears this instruction: take out the trash. It's simple, it's familiar, it's definitely necessary. Because if you don't take the trash out, eventually the trash takes over, right? Well, in the last couple of months leading up to the start of this new year, I've been pondering that a lot in my personal life. The thought has hit me over and over. What if that ordinary instruction could become something of a launching point for something far deeper? What if taking out the trash became a metaphor that God would use to help us step into freedom? Hi, friend. Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. I'm Tasha, and I'm so glad that you're here with me as we start this new year. Here at Family Disciple Me, we talk about what we call devotion-driven discipleship. And that's where we learn how to meet with God personally, and then we make him known through real, meaningful, intentional conversations about scripture with those that he's entrusted to us. And that's exactly what this new conversation collection is all about. As we get started, I must apologize for my voice. I've waited and waited to get over this cold, but it just ain't happening. And well, I feel like this conversation collection is important enough to begin. So I hope that you can just listen past my voice. And well, really, it's not about my voice and what I'm saying anyway. It's about what the voice of the Lord is speaking into your life through his word and by his spirit as we consider today's conversation, the coordinating scripture, and the upcoming conversations as well. So, with that, if you'll hang in there with me, let's dive in. You know, sometimes I have a hard time letting things go. True confession here. Sometimes in both the physical realm and the spiritual realm, the emotional realm, I tend to hold on to things because it's one thing to take out the trash when I've decided something needs to go. It's an entirely different thing to let go of something that I really want to hang on to. And yet sometimes I'll have someone in my life, like one of my adult kids or my husband, look at me and whatever it is I'm holding on to and say, trash it. As in, what are you doing holding on to that? Why is it still there? Why are you still letting that take up space? And if I'm honest, that's how God speaks to me sometimes as well. Not harshly, not sarcastically, not condemning, but very clearly. There are moments when I'm explaining or justifying or trying to make space for or manage something in my life. And the Spirit of God simply cuts through all of it and says, that doesn't belong there anymore, Tasha. Trash it. Sometimes the things that I need to let go of are sinful. I'm going to talk about some of those in the upcoming conversations. Other times, some of the hardest things for me to let go of, they are not necessarily the sinful things. They're the familiar things, they're the comfortable things, they're the things that I've been keeping with me for a long time. The things like the habits or the propensities, the mentalities, the emotions. The beginning of a new year is a really great time for all of us to examine all of these in each of our own personal lives. Don't you think? For me, I love the start of a new year because it naturally invites reflection like this. A new year feels like permission to reset, permission to clean house, to take inventory, to get rid of what's not needed. And as I've stepped into this new season, I've realized there are some very specific things I don't want to carry with me anymore. And as I've thought about those, I've sensed the Spirit of God saying something so simple, so direct, and really so necessary to me. He has said, trash it. And maybe he's beginning to say the same thing to you. That's where our theme scripture verse comes in for this conversation collection. I love what Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22 and 23 says in the New Living Translation. It says, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. There's so much here that we can think about with this verse. But what I want us to hone in on are the very first two words. Throw off. That phrase, throw off is active. It assumes participation. God's not asking us to organize and reorganize and shuffle around and make space for what no longer belongs. He's inviting us to completely remove it, to throw it away, and then to trust him to do the renewing work in those spaces and places that we can't do for ourselves. I encourage you to lean into this scripture verse this week. Like meditate on it. In fact, I'm going to invite you to memorize it. That's what I'm doing. And as you memorize it, listen to what God wants to say to you about your life through it. Because this scripture, this verse, this is going to set the stage for all the conversations to come. You see, this trash it conversation collection is a devotion-driven discipleship journey through some of the things we tend to carry far longer than we should. I've identified four categories that we're going to look at this year. Maybe I'll expand upon this next year. For me, these were the four that God was talking to me about. So here we are. The categories that we're going to discuss start with unhealthy food. And really by unhealthy food, I mean everything that we put into our mouths, whether it's food or drink or something else. We're gonna we're gonna look at that, see what scripture says about it. And then we're going to talk about bad habits. And this bad habits category could be what is in our lives that is not necessarily sinful, but just isn't good for us. I have a few of those things in my life. What about you? And then from there, we're gonna keep going deeper and deeper, and we're gonna start dealing with some ungodly emotions. I collected a few of those this past year that I'm working hard to get rid of. I have to have the Spirit of God's help with that particular category, but we're gonna get there in a few weeks. And then we're gonna end with false narratives, the lies that we believe, not just the lies that we tell. Each of these areas are categories that we're going to be looking at week by week. And each and every conversation is going to start the same way with a scripture verse. And then our goal, our challenge is to seek him, speak him through that. We're going to lean into God personally, individually. We're going to listen to what he wants to say to us as we ask him the questions, Lord, what, why, and how? We're going to listen potentially to this podcast. And not just to hear my voice, especially this cranky voice, but to hear what is the Lord talking to me about in this topic as we go back to scripture and as we ask him the questions and as we listen and learn, we're going to linger in his presence about each of these scriptures and concepts. Going to let him show us what doesn't belong in our lives. And then as we do some holy housekeeping, we're going to have the immense privilege to lead others into the same spirit-led reflection about these categories for their lives. Not by handing them our list, but by helping those entrusted to us learn how to hear God for themselves through his word. Before we start looking at these specific areas, though, let's go back to our overview for just a moment. Remember, Scripture tells us in Ephesians chapter 4 to throw off certain things so that the Holy Spirit can renew us. Some of the things that he wants us to throw off, some of those are outright sinful. And yet other things aren't necessarily sinful, but they're weights that are slowing us down. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 tells us to strip these off, to get rid of them as you take inventory of your life. And I really hope and pray that as we begin this new year that you will do this, if you see something that's slowing down your obedience, if you realize that something is clouding your thinking, or if the Holy Spirit of God begins to pinpoint certain areas, hindering you from being everything He's created you to be, well, be reminded that those are things that don't belong. And God is asking you and inviting you and compelling you to get rid of them. He is doing new things in us, preparing us for what he has for us this year. And he wants us to let go of the old that we no longer need. So let's do that. Let's let go of what God wants us to release. Friend, that isn't loss. That's holy housekeeping. And it makes space for all that he has in store for us. So this January, let's not just start a new year. Let's start clearing some space. It's not about aiming for perfection. It's about aiming to become who God wants us to be, walking in freedom and holiness and running the race with him and for him like never before. Because you can't run a new race while dragging old weight. And you can't step fully into what God has next for you while clinging to what He's asked you to release. So with that, let me pray this prayer over us. Oh, Holy Spirit of God, I come to you with my friends at the beginning of this new season. We come with open hearts and open hands. God, we don't want to carry into this new year, this new season, what no longer belongs in our lives. We want you to search us because we know that you know us. We want you to show us what's cluttering our hearts, what's clouding our minds, what's weighing down our spirits. God, would you reveal what we've been consuming that's weakening us? Would you show us what habits are shaping us away from Christ-likeness? Would you help us to see what emotions we've been storing instead of surrendering? What beliefs we have accepted that do not align with your truth. Jesus, we trust you to speak clearly to us. Oh Spirit, we choose to lean in, to listen and to linger with you. Heavenly Father, give us courage to obey you. When you put your finger on something that needs to go, help us to trash what you ask us to release so that you can transform what remains in our lives. Lord God, make our lives lighter, freer, and more aligned with you. As you work in our lives, God, teach us how to lead those you've entrusted to us. We want our lives to reflect not all our clutter and junk and trash and things we've been holding on to. God, we want our lives to reflect your holiness. We want our hearts to remain tender to your voice. We want our lives to be homes where your freedom, your truth, and your love dwell. So, Jesus, do all of this work in my friends and in myself this month, this year, for your glory, for our good, and the good of all of those you've entrusted to us. In your name, Jesus. Amen. Now, friend, go with God. Be encouraged. I'll look forward to being with you in the next episode. Hopefully with a little bit better voice, but definitely with a lot less clutter in my life. I'll see you soon.