I want you to reflect for a few moments about the need for cleansing. There is a need for dirty dishes to be cleansed. And there is a need for babies to be cleansed, although preferably not at the same time and in the same place. Some attempts at cleansing (especially those made by men) are not as successful. My favorite way to pass room check in college was to lift the bed, throw everything under it, and set it back down.
My children will tell you, though, that their mother knows how to clean the way it should be done. More than once, after cleaning the kitchen, I've been told by one of my children, "That's not the way Mom does it!" The kitchen looks clean (at least, it does to me). But it's not really clean. I don't always want to admit it, but I know it.
We also have a need for spiritual cleansing. Because of sin, our lives are blemished. We've managed to create quite a filthy mess. And we sometimes think that if we just do enough good things, it will erase all the sinful things we've done. But our attempts to obtain that cleansing on our own have been about as successful as my attempts to clean the kitchen. Our lives may look clean. But they're not really clean. We may not always want to admit it, but deep down, we know it.
Remember the Pharisees? They were great at cleansing themselves -- on the outside. But on the inside, they looked like the dirty dishes in the picture."Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." (Matt. 23:25-26)Our cleansing must begin on the inside, and it can only be found through the blood of Jesus Christ. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Without that blood, all the soap in the world can't remove the stain of even one sin.
Therein lies the power of baptism. It is "not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God" (I Peter 3:21) as it brings us into contact with that saving blood (Rom. 6:3). Feel like the baby above? May you find cleansing through Him who shed His blood to make that cleansing possible!
Verses
Hebrews 11:1
What is faith, you ask? Well, it is an inner assurance that the things we hope for actually exist, and the conviction that they are already ours even though we cannot see them.
Luke 5:17
Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
1 Corinthians 15:58
So, my dear friends, do not be shaken in your faith by the threat of death. Hold steady, don't let anything throw you.
Keep doing the Lord's work because you are aware of its worth now and your reward in the future.
Romans 8:27
Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 5:17
For if by the offense of the one death reigned by the one, much more those who are receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall rule in life by the One, Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Father, we pray today that You will fill us with wisdom and understanding. May our outward lives reflect the inner beauty and peace that comes through the abiding presence of Your Holy Spirit in our hearts. May Your Spirit produce in us genuine Christian fruit so that others will see Jesus in us and glorify You, our Father, who is in heaven. It is through Your glorious power that we are strengthened in the inner person enabling us to endure difficult trials that will not strip us of the lasting joy and peace that comes to those who walk by faith and not by sight.
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