Have you ever tossed a candy wrapper on the ground and someone said, “No Littering!”? Littering makes everything look trashy and disgusting. Trash is something we need to get rid of. No one wants to have it around. What would it be like to live in a town where the streets are covered with garbage? Some places are like that, and let me tell you—they stink!

But there are more things than wrappers and bags to throw away. What should you do with a grumpy attitude or selfish thought—leave it lying around or toss it in the trash? You see, happy lives are like clean streets. They are beautiful, but they don’t just happen. You have to make choices. It is much easier to just drop your trash (or your dirty shirt or book or toy) than to put it where it belongs. But what will happen if you do? Everything will become a mess and the important things will get lost or broken. Sloshing through garbage and clutter is a miserable way to live, if you ask me.

Did you notice that “No Littering” signs often have a big fine written under them? That’s because littering causes a mess that others will have to clean up. On the King’s Highway there are “No Littering” signs, too. Just as we like to have clean streets and houses, the God of Heaven delights to have everything clean and beautiful. He lives in a city where the streets are pure gold and the gates shine as pearls. Nothing trashy or defiling is allowed there—no dirty words or thoughts, no sneaky plans or bad attitudes (Revelation 21:21-27). And the penalty for littering is steep: eternal death.

If your life is cluttered with dirty thoughts and bad attitudes, it is time to think about cleaning up. God wants you to get rid of your trash and live a clean life. He knows that you can’t do it by yourself, so God offers you His cleaning power. Jesus is able to clean up the most messed up lives and keep them spotless and pure. But you have to want a clean life more than anything else. Do you really believe that God won’t accept litter in your life? Then it is time to take action. The Bible is full of promises for those that want to have clean minds and pure hearts. And it also tells us that those who love their sins and dirty ways will be thrown out into outer darkness, “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”* (Matthew 22:11-13) Will you throw out your doubts and arguments and choose to live trash-free?