Washed Clean

This happened a couple of years ago, but the message applied is timeless....

My husband was giving my young son a bath the other night, to which my son gave all heck. From the bathroom I heard screaming, yelling, frantic water splashing, and worried statements all coming from my son. My husband, no matter what he said, could not console our five year old tantruming son. My son's excuse for all the rigmarole? He had a "boo-boo" on his knee (he really did not have one) and was scared that it would hurt if we gave him a bath and washed him clean.

Hearing a few seconds of this loud performance (and I mean loud), I immediately felt the Holy Spirit nudge me. He showed me myself in that same position of tantruming child, afraid to get washed and cleaned. I asked the Lord, are we really like that? Do we act like this when you try to "clean" off our dirt? And I got a resounding "YES!" with a whole lot of good natured laughter behind it. It was then that I reflected and asked Him to elaborate.

You see, we are dirty, dirty with sin and unclean things in our life (whether knowingly or unknowingly). Then when our Father tells us it's time to get the dirt washed off, we immediately panic. We think we won't make it, that our "boo boos" will hurt, that we'll drown, that we'll ______ (fill in the blank). We fuss, we yell, we cry, and we scream as He starts to rinse us off. This scenario immediately brought to mind of how our Great God refines those He loves. We don't realize that we need that dirt, that sin in our lives, removed. We don't realize that even though it may hurt, even though it is unpleasant, we need God to refine us. Refinement takes the form of many different scenarios: loss of a loved one/possessions/job, health problems/illnesses, broken down cars/appliances, bad relationships/tension, rebuke of sin/behavior/errors, etc... And yes, it hurts! Sometimes it hurts more than we can bear, but in our times of weakness and suffering, the Lord is our strength.

Throughout it all, the Father lovingly tries to encourage us that it must be done and that it will all be over soon. He promises us that if we would just hold tight and let Him cleanse us, refine us, we'll come out clean, pure, holy, as precious gold or silver that reflects the Image of His Son, Jesus. My son eventually calmed down, sniffling, but clean. He was even happier afterwards, clean and with fresh clothes on. I could imagine God being like my husband, using firm hands and sometimes a firm voice to get our son clean. The harder we fight back refinement, the more firm the Lord will be with us. He disciplines those He loves! He wants to use us to carry out His purpose and His work, and we have to let Him. If we want to experience the true joy of the Holy Spirit and be at peace in our heart, we must allow God to refine and clean us.

We cannot continue to live our lives in sin, thinking of God as just an idea - putting Him in the background of our life, forgotten, ignored, and unimportant until we decide we need Him....and expect to feel close to Him or have a healthy relationship with Christ. If we live that way, we'll stand before the Throne of Judgment dirty and soiled, rather than clean with white robes of righteousness. It's not about being holier than thou, it's about repenting and allowing God to cleanse us through Christ and refining us.

No matter what you are going through though, whether you are being refined by God or attacked by the enemy, lean not upon your own understanding and trust in Him. Get rid of the filth in your lives and allow the God Above All to cleanse you and wash you clean by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

 

9 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  

- Psalm 51:9-10

I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name, and I will answer them. I will say, "This is My people"; and each one will say, "The Lord is my God."   - Zechariah 13:9

For to You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.  

- Psalm 66:10

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.   - Isaiah 48:10

2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.   - Malachi 3:2-3

...that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ....

 -  1 Peter 1:7

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.   

- Revelation 3:18

You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.  

- Deuteronomy 8:5

For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers in His holiness.   

- Hebrews 12:10