04/04/2019
Are you fretting over your lack of spiritual perfection? Are you standing on the verge of abandoning your faith because you feel like you keep tripping over the world, and can’t live without sinning? Well, take heart, because you are no different than Peter, Paul, or John, who also sinned, yet just like them you are made perfect... not by your own works and doing, but by the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. Jesus has shouldered your sin so that you have become pure in God’s eyes.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
Our sin, a messenger of Satan, is the thorn in our flesh; the selfsame thorn that Paul spoke of, and just as Paul realized, our boast should be in the grace of Jesus as it is sufficient to redeem us. We reach out in prayer, and in a voice of contrition and true regret we ask for forgiveness. In that moment the blood of Jesus washes our sin away... not because of what, or who we are, but by who Jesus is.
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV
I ask you... does your conceit and self-centeredness keep you from experiencing the true joy of God by covering it with a shroud comprised of the sins that you can’t lift on your own? Are you limping along like Paul with a thorn in your flesh, but haven’t realized to this point that Jesus is taking the pain of it away? Well, my friend, you are standing in a dark room with a cover of your own making over the light of Jesus Christ. You are a blind man in a world where everyone can see; if you will only open your eyes to His grace. Listen to these words that were written by Charles Spurgeon...
“Your standing with God is not from your own good - it was laid on Christ’s head. Your standing with God is not from your own good - it is in Christ. Your acceptance is not in yourself, but in the Lord. You are fully accepted by God today, with all your sinfulness, as you will be when you stand before His throne, free from all corruption.” - Charles Spurgeon
Jesus is not just capable of redeeming you at the moment of your conversion to Christianity; His redemption is not just a onetime forgiveness of sin. His blood is not merely poured over your wounds of sin where it dries, and forms a hardened crust. When you accept Him as your Savior, He becomes like a bridegroom who commits to you for life... for better or for worse, till death do you part, and then He defeats death which makes His commitment to you eternal. The question becomes this... do you believe your relationship with Him is eternal and that His cleansing blood flows constantly over you, never scabbing over, but always washing you clean?
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”
Colossians 2:9-10 ESV
Our redemption does not come by our own goodness, and righteousness, but from the perfection of Christ. The power of Jesus is our hope, and our contrition and confession of sin allows His blood to wash every part of us clean... day after day, after day.
When I was a boy I played hard in the woods and fields all day, and by evening I was covered from head to toe with sweaty dirt and grime. When visiting my aunt’s house there was a nightly ritual of bathing that most of you will find unheard of... you see, she didn’t have running water in her home. So my mother would draw water from the well outside with a bucket and heat it on the stove; then when it was just right she would pour it over me as I sat in a large wash tub. I would then soap up and bathe in that tub. When washed from head to toe I would stand in the center of the tub while she rinsed me by pouring fresh water from the stove over my head. This water would carry all of the soap and loose dirt down into the tub. Then my mother would wrap a clean towel around me and lift me spotless from the water. I will never forget how wonderful it felt to be bathed in this manner, and how wonderful being held in her arms as I was dried was.
Standing in the tub of God’s promise, and having the warm water of Jesus Christ poured over us is even more incredibly wonderful. Being held spotless in the arms of Jesus as He towels us off, and He hugs our clean bodies, is not something that only occurs at conversion... it is our daily routine, and is an act of perfect love. Then, once clean we can run and jump into the lap of our Father, and tell Him about our day.
So, don’t lose heart because you have a thorn in your flesh, or have become covered in the filth of the world, because Jesus is waiting for you with His blood to heal your wounds, and with pans of water on the stove, and a washtub in the middle of the room. Are you ready to let Him wash you clean each evening? Are you ready for the soft towel, wonderful hugs, and a leap into your Heavenly Father’s lap?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the healing blood of your Son Jesus, and for the living water that he pours over me to wash away the filth of the world. Thank you Father for hearing my words of contrition, and your willingness to accept me as pure, righteous, and cleansed by your Son. Thank you Holy Father for the love you show me every moment of every day, and for the arms that hold me tight as the last drops of water are dried from my hair. Teach me Heavenly Father to look forward to sitting in the washtub, and the brisk rubbing that it often takes to free the dirt from my body. Teach me Father to help carry the buckets of water in from the well so that others might also be bathed, and so that they too can experience the joy of running to sit in your lap. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who sent His Son to redeem me, and to cleanse me of sin. Praised be your name Father, and as I stand in righteousness before you let all know that the glory is yours, made forever perfect by your grace through Jesus Christ.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:8-9 ESV
Rich Forbes