Wash Me Lord ....If You Really Must!

 

 

       So, here we are friends ....rejoicing in the beauty of God's great love for us, accepting that we are flea-market finds ( actually, the flea market would be a step up from where he found me....just saying ), acknowledging the terrible mess our lives are in, and with joy in our hearts, turning over full control of said mess to our oh so wonderful Father. After all, He has told us that we are His treasured possessions! He looks upon us with that indescribable, and unbelievable look that is only seen as a daddy looks upon the child he adores! ( We are the apples of His eye, even if He dug us out of the dumpster! ) The sweet knowledge of that is just too awesome for me to get my mind around completely, but oh my goodness, how I do love my daddy! It is very tempting for me to camp out right here, .....and they all lived happily ever after. The end! ( I mean, this is enough for me...amen? ) However, this is most certainly NOT the end, and this will never be enough for God. In fact, if we look back at that verse, there may just be something we hurried past ( Who can blame us? We saw treasure and we ran right? Ok, maybe it was just me )

                   Deuteronomy 7:6 says:
     "  For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. "

    There, did you see it that time? He calls us to be HOLY, He calls us OUT of the world, He calls us to be HIS! It is thrilling to know that I am His treasure, and it is even more thrilling to know that He is not going to leave me a broken down heap of mess! His desire is to make me into an awesome masterpiece that will reflect His glory! How exciting!! How will He do this we wonder, and like giddy, sugared up children, we are eagerly waiting on the day......
     I spent a good portion of my day doing laundry.. ( I have no idea where it all comes from, but truly, I could spend every day doing laundry and never be done! Somebody please tell me I am not alone! ) and my laundry situation got me thinking about sin. ( laundry is not a happy time for me. Don't judge me! ) I can thank my son for this. ( ...and, I need to say upfront, that I love him very much! That being said .... ) There are times when I literally have to threaten, and sometimes even begin to remove clothing off his person to get it into the washing machine! Is this because he is a dirty kid, with an aversion to soap? Does he favor dirty clothes ( and the rather pungant smell that goes with them ) over clean and fresh ones? Certainly not! He is a clean kid, who enjoys a freshly washed wardrobe as much as the next kid. " Why then? " you ask. The truth is, my son has favorites, those items in his wardrobe that he knows he looks good in, and are the most comfortable. ( The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree here. I too am a creature of habit, often pulling out my " old reliable " items from my wardrobe, and yes I DO wash them regularly! )
       Somehow, ( only God knows how ) this all got me thinking about sin. You see, when we come to God recognizing our sin and our brokenness ( our mess ), admit to Him that we can't fix it, and we need help, and when we believe that God is exactly who He says He is in the person of Jesus Christ, ( Jesus is the son of God ) then the Father steps in, forgives our sins, and accepts us where we are. He then does something else....

                   1 John 1:9 says :
           "  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all   unrighteousness. "

...Don't miss it! The Bible says He purifies us from all unrighteousness ( which is a fancy Bible word for sin and mess ) The Father, picks us up out of that dumpster with His gentle, and masterful hands, and washes us all clean! ( through the blood of Jesus ) That is another goose bump moment for me! I hope it is for you too my friend! So why is it then, that we get ourselves all cleaned and spiffed up by a more than generous, and patient Father, and almost as quick as He puts our squeaky clean feet back on the ground, we run straight for the same ( or maybe a different  ) mud hole he found us in? I want to be clean, but I sure do like to play in that dirt! Why, I wonder, do Christians make God spend so much time doing laundry!? You know, the thought occurs to me that He is never going to dress us up in our Sunday best if He can't even trust us to keep our play clothes clean! All the mothers out there just said Amen! (  I'm pretty sure I heard it )

            1 Peter 2:9-10 says :
" But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. "

     Friends, God tells us that we are His chosen people! He calls us a royal priesthood. Once we were in the dark ( playing in that mud ), and He brought us into the Light, ( and cleaned us up! ) so that we might praise and glorify Him! I don't know about you, but I sure would like to try on some royal clothes for a change! Let's ask God to help us to live in His strength ( behaving like the royalty He chose us to be ), so that the our Holy, Heavenly Father might be pleased enough to change us out of play clothes, and into some royal robes!