The Bible and My Messy Desk

OK, I admit it: my desk is a mess. Books, notepads, mail, electronic gadgets, photos, and Post-Its are scattered everywhere—punctuated by an empty Diet Dr. Pepper can. And that’s not to mention my two piles on the floor: one of papers I need to throw away or recycle and another of backlogged publications I intend to read. It’s not that I am opposed to cleaning. It’s just that there always seem to be more important things to do. Perhaps you can relate.
But recently two authors challenged my desk-cleaning apathy, suggesting that God cares whether my work space is a wreck. In their book, A Guide to Biblical Manhood, Randy Stinson and Dan Dumas of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary apply to personal organization God’s command for man to have dominion over the creation (Genesis 1:26-30). Though their words are directed specifically toward males, they have application for women as well:

The exercising of dominion involves leadership and order. It’s instinctive in men to order stuff. A man sees disorder (especially all the disorder that came once Adam sinned) and thinks—this shouldn’t be. And so men order their lives, homes, families, and local church. This isn’t dominance or dictatorship. It’s responsibility.

God gives you opportunities to take dominion by giving you some area of domain—anywhere from a locker to a whole company. What domains has He given you? Even if a wife is helping you take dominion in those areas, how are you specifically leading and bearing responsibility?

What does your trunk, garage, closet, or desk look like? While most of us have a messy desk or car trunk on occasion, a life that is consistently characterized by disorder is evidence of a general pattern of passivity in the domains God gives you to work and keep. Your home, dorm room, garage, office, and car should bear the mark of your masculinity as you subdue it and keep it in order. Don’t let your domains take dominion over you. A clean desk or organized garage doesn’t constitute dominion, but it cultivates it and helps you take the same mindset to your family life, your work, and the world around you. How are you cultivating the inclination to order your world?

That is a convicting reminder that the Bible applies not just to the big decisions in life, but to all the little details too. Perhaps my desk matters to God after all. I need to clean it.