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10/27/04
"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7 (NIV)
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There's just something really satisfying about having a neat, clean, tidy house.
In our house, I'm the one who does the laundry and housecleaning. After I've
done an "extreme makeover" cleaning, mercilessly hunting down and disposing of
every last dust bunny, I emphatically announce to anyone within earshot, "Hey! I
just cleaned this house! Don't make it dirty again!"
Of course, as my request still hangs in the air, dirty dishes mysteriously
appear on the kitchen counter, the cats zip through the house willing themselves
to shed, and the teenager comes in from school. Sigh.
As Solomon wrote, "What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils in
the house? Occupants come and occupants go, but the clutter remains forever. The
laundry is done yet there is always more to do. All things are wearisome, more
than one can say." Really big sigh.
1 John 1:9 states, "[I]f we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to
forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for
God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins" (TLB).
After a good soul and heart cleansing, you can almost hear Jesus say, "Hey! I
just cleaned this house! Don't make it dirty again!" Or, to put it in more
biblical language, "Go, and sin no more."
But sin, we do. Early and often! We start fresh with His new mercies every
morning, and then go into the day and express our displeasure to a co-worker,
spread a little gossip about a neighbor, linger over a vengeful thought, dodge a
responsibility, place blame away from ourselves, ignore someone’s request for
help, swear under our breath, exceed the speed limit, and on and on.
The reality is that living life is dirty business. Just as we cannot clean our
houses "once and for all," so being cleansed from sin is not a "once and done"
milestone in our lives. Every day, before suiting up in our God-supplied armor,
odds are we need to take a spiritual shower and get cleaned up again. Psalm
68:19 declares, "What a glorious Lord! He who daily bears our burdens also gives
us our salvation" (TLB).
Daily confession followed by a vigorous washing in the Word will make you feel
like a new person every time.
-- Stephen R. Clark
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Stephen (Stephen@StephenRClark.com) resides in Fishers, Indiana and operates
FishersWorship.com and FishersFind.com. He is a professional writer and
communications consultant.
These weekly email devotionals
are provided by FishersWorship.com. The copyright is owned by the author. You
are welcome to use them in your church periodicals or on your church web site as
long as you give complete attribution that mentions both FishersWorship.com as
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Copyright (c) 2005 by the AUTHOR. All rights reserved."
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46038, (317) 435-9673,
info@FishersWorship.com.