Cleaning The Air

I have been helping clean out the back room of the thrift shop that the women of three local churches are in charge of, here in our small town. Today we pulled out an old work bench and discovered there was mold on the wall behind it.  Who knows how long the bench has been there and who knows how long the moisture that caused the mold has been there. Just thinking about us all breathing that air kind of makes me a little freaked out. It is funny how I didn't think anything of being in that area before I knew the mold was there. But after it was found the air seemed unhealthy and really dirty.

To be sure it had to be cleaned. I put on a mask and started scrubbing on the wall with bleach. It didn't take long before the mold was gone and the air smelled and felt clean to me again. 

That it is how it is when we figure out how much we need Christ. We come to the realization that our hearts and souls are in much need of a good scrubbing. We didn't understand how dirty we really were and when we do come to realize this, it kind of sickens us.   

Christ gave his life to clean our souls. Excepting His gift of salvation whitens us like the bleach cleaned the wall today. We feel fresh and pristine. We are scrubbed clean.

Hebrews 9:13-14

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow were sprinkled on those who were no longer pure enough to enter the place of worship. The blood and ashes made them pure again—but only their bodies. 14 So surely the blood sacrifice of Christ can do much more. Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit[a] as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make us completely clean from the evil we have done. It will give us clear consciences so that we can worship the living God.

 Christ came to give us a clean start. A feeling of freshness. Nothing left to feel guilty about. We can breath easier because our sins are forgiven and forgotten. The author of Psalms 32 put this into words even before Christ came to live on this earth.....

Psalm 32:1

The Message (MSG)

Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
    you get a fresh start,
    your slate’s wiped clean.


I am looking forward to walking into the back room tomorrow, knowing how clean the wall will be and knowing how much fresher the air, that we will be breathing, will be.

Imagine how good it is to wake up in the morning feeling clean and unfettered by sin, with no dirt and filth left in our soul. I know there is no better feeling in the world!

My wish for you is that you know this feeling too!

Blessings!

Clean and Shiny

Clean Slate...

This morning I did a job that our son, Riley, usually does. I unloaded the dishwasher. As a matter of fact I could hardly wait to get up and do this. I can hear you now, "Has she gone crazy"? No, well not any more than normal.

You see we had a new dishwasher installed yesterday. Our old one just wasn't doing the job any more. Even the dishes that it would get clean had a weird film on them and I was hand washing more and more. You could put dishes into the thing that just needed rinsed and even they would come out dirty.

This morning, everything was clean. Spotlessly clean! It is funny to be so happy about a chore but I gladly put away the dishes for Riley, just for the joy of watching clean ones go into the cabinet and not back into the dishwasher.




In my reading this morning I read this verse....

Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off, whose sins are wiped clean from the slate. Fortunate the person against whom the Lord does not keep score. Romans 4:9 (MSG)

We as Christians are fortunate indeed! Our God does not see us as filmy and dirty, but as spotlessly clean. He can't wait for us to get up and spend time with Him. He loves that! As a matter of fact we were created just for that purpose, but sin came and got in the way. 

Just like the dirty dishes had to be kept in the dishwasher we as sinners are kept from God. Thank goodness Christ came to make us clean! As we accept him we are made, not hazy, not spotty, but totally clean and shiny to our God. He doesn't even remember when we were dirty. He, like me with the clean dishes, is so excited to see the clean and shiny you each and every morning!

Blessings!