Clean or Dirty

As a parent it’s always been easy to tell if my kiddos washed their hands before dinner. We taught them to “wash up” before dinner. I’ve noticed now that they’ve have grown up and understand the thought process behind “washing up”, they actually do it without thinking much about it. “Washing up” is a ritual prior to eating now.

The people of Israel were getting instructions from God about how to become clean and these instructions were much more complicated than simply washing up. They were given specific instructions to become clean after touching a dead body of any kind. The Lord was clear and concise about the process of becoming clean after having become unclean. The cleansing ceremony after touching a dead body was a 7 day process. I can hardly handle the thoughts of putting my hand on the head of a cow or a lamb and killing it because of my sin. That is disturbing to my soul, but I think it was actually the point of the ritual. The Lord was serious about being clean before coming into His Presence. Check this out…

22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.’ (Numbers 19:22 NIV)

I’m so thankful that the Lord doesn’t require these ceremonial processes anymore. I’m thankful that I can go before the Lord dirty and unclean, but He cleans me up. There are times that my heart is dirty and I look clean on the outside, but He knows me like no one else. He knows when I need a “shower on my heart”. He is the Only One Who can clean my heart properly. I can wash my body – in fact it’s a daily ritual for me every morning, but The Lord cleans my heart.

I’m grateful that I can come before Him clean or dirty- He always changes me when I’m in His Presence. He takes the cleaning of my heart onto His agenda. My part is simply coming before Him with a repentant heart. He scrubs me clean using Grace & Mercy as cleaning agents. When I’m reminded of the cost of this Grace and Mercy – I’m so humbled that He still loves me and accepts me. He accepts me “just as I am”, but He loves me too much to leave me there. He wants my heart to look like His – clean and pure!

Pressing On!

Dwayne