Sunday April 11, 2021

Spring Cleaning

When spring arrives, more sunlight brightens your home as the days grow longer. Fresh air blows in once the temperatures warm up enough to open your windows. But all the light and fresh air reveals what you may not have noticed during the dark, cold days of winter: Your house is a mess! It is not fun to see the clutter and dirt that need to be cleaned up around your house. But the more light and air flow in, the more motivated you are to do some spring cleaning.

Spring cleaning can be more than just a laborious chore, however. It can actually be exciting! That is, if you take the time to start cleaning up something far greater than your earthly house…your spiritual house…your soul.

The closer you get to Jesus (the Light of the world), and the more you invite the Holy Spirit to blow the fresh air of His power into your life, the more you become aware of how messy your soul has become. Thankfully, there is no sin, no habit, or negative character trait too messy for God to clean up when you follow His divine cleaning plan…confession, repentance, and reconciliation.

In Psalm 51, David begs God to:

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (Ps.51:1-2)

That should be our spring cleaning plea. You see, we must first ask to be cleansed before God steps in with His holy cleaning power (1 Jn.1:9). He is willing if we are wanting. We have to give Him access to those deep and dark places of uncleanness and not just settle for a little “polishing” on the outside. That would only make us whitewashed hypocrites…ouch! (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of hypocrites)

This is a cleaning we cannot accomplish on our own because we do not possess the right cleanser. But He does. The Blood of Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews tells us that, “All things are purified with the blood” (Heb.9:22). John reminds us that, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn.1:7).

The Lord not only makes us clean, He keeps us clean! Every time we are in His Word and are led to repentance, He “cleanses us with the washing of the water by the Word” (Eph.5:26). It is an amazing cleansing of renewal and power.

When we make the effort to bring our sin-tainted hearts to God asking Him to do what only He can do, He will forgive our sinful attitudes and resulting actions and make our hearts new again. Then much like when we finally unearth something of value that has been buried all winter, we will be able to unearth some cherished treasures we thought were long lost…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal.5:22-23).

Usually when we finish spring cleaning our homes, we look around and declare that we will never let the clutter pile up that high again and we determine not to let it. We should do the same for our spiritual house. Determine not to let it get dirty again. The only way to accomplish this is to keep it up daily by feasting on God’s Word and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

Once we are washed with the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Himself declares to us this astounding Truth: What God has cleansed, you cannot unclean.” (Acts 10:15). Amen, and thank You, Lord. His spring cleaning is really eternity cleaning!! Wash me, Lord. Wash me.

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Related Scripture

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

— Psalm 51:2, 7

Word Wisdom

hypocrite

Greek "hupokrites'" (hoop-ok-ree-tace) Strong's #5273

In Bible days actors wore masks, which included mechanisms for amplifying the voice. Since the dramas were questions and answers, the word describing the dialogue was "hupokrinomai," “to reply or answer.” "Hupokrites" is one who is playacting, reading a script, or one who puts on an act. The hypocrite conceals his true motives under a cloak of make-believe.

So...

In 1818, Ignaz Phillip Semmelweis was born into a world of dying women. The finest hospitals lost one out of six young mothers to the scourge of “childbed fever.”

A doctor’s daily routine began in the dissecting room where he performed autopsies. From there he made his way to the hospital to examine expectant mothers without ever pausing to wash his hands. Dr. Semmelweis was the first man in history to associate such examinations with the resultant infection and death. His own practice was to wash with a chlorine solution, and after eleven years and the delivery of 8,537 babies,he lost only 184 mothers–about one in fifty. He spent the vigor of his life lecturing and debating with his colleagues. He once said, “But while we talk ,talk, talk, gentlemen, women are dying.I am not asking anything world shaking. I am asking you only to wash…For God’s sake, wash your hands.” But virtually no one believed him. Doctors and midwives had been delivering babies for thousands of years without washing, and no outspoken Hungarian was going to change them now!

Semmelweis died insane at the age of 47, his wash basins discarded, his colleagues laughing in his face, and the death rattle of a thousand women ringing in his ears. “Wash me!” was the anguished prayer of King David. “Wash!” was the message of John the Baptist. “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” said the towel-draped Jesus to Peter. Without our being washed clean, we all die from the contamination of sin.