I stood in the kitchen, hands on my hips, proud of all I had accomplished. I had finally gotten around to cleaning out the disaster of a linen closet in our kitchen. Not only that, but I had also cleaned out our junk drawer AND purged another cabinet in our breakfast nook.
I proudly led my husband around, giving him a tour of how I had reorganized everything.
Then he made a comment that stuck with me.
“You know, making order out of chaos and stewarding the things we have is a way to fight against Murphy’s Law.”
I looked at the bags by the door, filled with things to donate, and the drawers in our kitchen that finally closed. Yes, everything looked nicer, but it felt like something lifted too.
This isn’t going to be a Marie Kondo “does it spark joy” post. When we tidy up, something else is going on, and it starts on the first page of the Bible.
And everything in that disastrous linen closet isn’t even ours to begin with. The things that crowded that space were entrusted to us. And how we treat what we’re entrusted with is a spiritual posture.
Everything Falls Apart
If we were to leave everything alone, everything drifts. Clean rooms get messy, things break, and nothing stays ordered without effort. There’s a word for this: entropy. Murphy’s Law. Simply put: chaos or disorder.
Then I got to thinking about the fall of man, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. What if with the fall came entropy? Before Genesis 3, things held together. After they ate the fruit, it all started coming apart.
I’m not using one to prove the other necessarily; I just think it’s odd that science and the Bible both describe the same thing from two sides.
Romans 8:20-21 says creation was “subjected to frustration” and in “bondage to decay”. Paul writes that the drift is real, and creation itself groans under it.
But we all know, this isn’t how things were supposed to be.
The Way It Was Supposed to Be
In Genesis 1, God’s first act isn’t making things but bringing order to chaos. He made form out of the void, separated, shaped. Order is the substance of creation.
Humans were then created to “work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). God put us in the garden and gave us work.
But then we sinned. The fall didn’t cancel out our job of keeping what God entrusted to us. It just made the job more difficult, because now we have to go against the current instead of just enjoying the order.
We’re still called to keep. It’s only gotten harder.
Entrusted, Not Owned
I used to think it was cheesy when people said they were “entrusted” with all their belongings. I would chuckle, imagining God saying, “Ah, yes, I’m going to entrust her with this specific spatula and spoon and hope she cooks great meals with them.
Especially in our culture today, we walk around with our new belongings thinking we own the stuff we were influenced to buy on TikTok Shop. We bought it, it’s ours, we can do what we want with it.
But everything we have was given. It’s on loan. We’re managers, not owners.
We really are entrusted with the things we have.
And there’s a sense of relief in that. If we owned everything, we’d hold onto it with an iron grip. We’d cling, hoard, terrified of losing it. But because it’s entrusted, we can hold our belongings with open hands. We tend it, and we can let it go.
If we own something, when it ultimately decays, we face a loss and burden. But if something is entrusted, tending it is a trust, and we’re allowed to release it.
Ownership grips us. Stewardship holds things open-handed.
Psalm 24:1 says that the earth and everything in it is the Lord’s. It was never ours to hoard or to trash.
I was raised to respect my belongings. Even if we could technically afford to buy a new one if it broke, we were taught to treat our things well. All over social media, I see people who treat their things like they’re disposable. “If it breaks, I’ll just get a new one.” Even our kids know to treat their things with respect.
We don’t respect our possessions because the object deserves reverence. We respect them because they were given to us.
Honoring the gifts God’s given us is a way of honoring Him.
How We Can Push Back
So, how can we honor the things we’ve been entrusted with?
Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
“Work it and keep it” can be unfolded into three different practical ways to push against entropy.
1. Tend it.
This is order pushing back on chaos. The linen closet, laundry room, it all drifts towards mess. Cleaning isn’t just cosmetic, but holds the line against chaos. My beautiful husband recently set out on a quest to clear out the whole laundry room, and he did it! But unfortunately, we wear clothes, and with that comes more laundry. Tending is the expansion of the quest, keeping up with the laundry after clearing out the backup.
2. Respect it.
This is care pushing back on contempt. We can’t destroy or disregard something that’s in our hands. Teaching a child to care for a toy instills “what you’re given is worth honoring” before they can name it. The “whatever, we’ll replace it” attitude is something we’ve all absorbed. And this isn’t to say we should get upset when something ultimately breaks. Things aren’t infinite, and even things we honor are prone to accidents and breaking.
3. Release it.
This is generosity pushing back on accumulation. When I was cleaning out our closet, if I wasn’t sure what to do with an item, I thought, “Would someone else appreciate and use this more than me?” If the answer was yes, it went in the donate bag.
I’ll be the first to admit that this was hard for me. I’m the type of person who keeps every little thing “just in case there’s a 1% chance we need it someday”. But I’d rather give something to someone who will use it every day instead of it wasting away in the abyss of the closet, waiting for that 1% chance it’s needed.
When You Can’t Do It
“But what about that single sock behind the dryer or that tiny piece that goes with that toy?”
I know. Some things seem so small and insignificant. But that’s where entropy wins—in the quiet places first. It feels beneath notice, and that’s exactly why it matters.
Faithfulness in the insignificant is where the resistance actually happens. Luke 16:10 says, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much[.]”
But, and this is important, tending is good AND the inability to tend IS NOT SIN.
I’ve had times in my life where the depression mess became too big for me to handle. I’d sit in my room crying about where to even start, because I couldn’t muster up the willpower to move. I’m sure most of us have an executive dysfunction pile—all the stuff we’re going to put away, really! We all go through some kind of survival season.
This is not neglect. And it doesn’t mean you’re a bad steward.
Stewardship is a gift we give to God, not a grade we earn. Yes, He wants us to honor our things, but He also knows there’s times in life where we aren’t able to.
Start Small
If you’re able, start with something small. With my brain, I had enough hyperfocus left in me that I tackled an enormous project. (Have I done anything else since? Nope, I have not.)
Try clearing out one drawer. It doesn’t even have to be the junk drawer. Look through your closet and collect things you don’t wear anymore. Fix one thing instead of replacing it. Collect a few things around the house to donate.
We’re not out here trying to have perfect, influencer homes. We can spend just five minutes of our days bringing order to a fallen corner, honoring the Giver by how we hold a gift.
Zechariah 4:10 tells us, “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice”. God’s work may start in small ways but will eventually reach a glorious conclusion. Nothing is too insignificant for Him to notice.
A Little Order
Just yesterday, I opened the linen closet to grab something and was taken aback at how beautifully organized it was. I had forgotten I did it at all, and the peace it brought was amazing.
It’s no wonder too. With this small act, I was able to push back against the same drift all of creation is under. Hopefully soon, I can get myself to do the same to the hall closet (that one is even worse!).
By taking care of the things entrusted to us, we bring a little order. We refuse to let what we were entrusted with decay into trash. We can honor the Giver in the most insignificant, unglamorous corners of our lives.
Who would’ve thought cleaning out a closet would spark all of this? God works in mysterious ways for sure.
