11-16-2020
“Eww! Why are you so messy?” I jokingly ask my toddler.
“My can can,” he replies. That’s how he says “candy.”
“Yuck,” I say. “Let me clean you up.” His sticky red sucker had dripped all around his chin and between his fingers. I led him to the sink, put soap and water on his hands, and helped him rub the mess away.
Another kid comes inside, his white hands shadowed with dirt. “Take off your shoes, and wash your hands,” I remind him.
I spend a lot of my day washing tiny hands and reminding tiny humans to wash their hands. They get filthy when we play outside or do crafts. We also wash up before and after we eat breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. Plus, potty time! How many times must I tell them to actually use soap?!
Oh, yeah, I spend all day washing my hands too. Hand sanitizer is strategically placed throughout my house. Sometimes I clean up quickly with baby wipes. Other times, my hands require a good soap and water cleansing.
Washing frequently dries out my skin. It’s irritated and cracking...maybe itchy. So, I use lotion too. I love the soft feeling and the sweet smell after moisturizing.
Did you know God gave us soap? He was all about having clean people in the temple (hearts and hands). Check out Numbers 19 for the recipe of pouring water through ashes to make lye soap and using hyssop as an antiseptic.
God not only set apart his people by choosing them and giving them the law, but also he made sure to protect them from diseases by having them wash their hands or homes and socially distancing them when they might have been exposed to something contagious.
As a culture, we physically clean ourselves all the time, but we don’t wash our hearts nearly enough. I sin every day. I’m selfish, and I put myself before God and others. I think of my needs and my wants first. I speak words that I shouldn’t...gossip, lies, rudeness, unkind words. I do actions that I know Jesus would never do.
How often do I confess these sins? No matter the number, it’s not enough. I couldn’t count the number of sins from my life. But God knows.
He could list off every speck of dirt that surrounds my muddy heart. He could drown me with guilt and shame because it’s more than I can hold. He could throw it in my face every time I doubt Him. He could spend my whole life reminding me of how imperfect I am making me feel so insignificant.
But He doesn’t.
He sees the dirt on me, leads me to the sink, gives me soap, and helps me wash it all away. I watch every wrong thing go down the drain. I say good-bye to all the little germy sins as I come before God confessing all that I’ve done.
It feels good to admit. Being clean is great. Being cleaned by my Lord is greater. He takes the weight away to let me breathe. He takes the guilt and shame by forgiving me every time. He takes imperfections and uses them for His glory. He cleans me with grace as often as I need.
He takes it a step further by covering my brokenness with love. I imagine His love covering me as I finish rubbing my cracked hands with the lotion. My heart is soft, and I can feel the peace and joy again.
Hebrews 9:13-14 “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Psalm 51:7 “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
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