Just Going to Get Dirty Again

Today as I was scrubbing the floor something I rarely do… hey before you think I don't mop the floor I do, but to get down on my hands and knees and scrub it hard getting all the little hard caked on dirt that has accumulated in the linoleum design over the *coff* years, well, let's just say it doesn't happen often. Then again it takes awhile for all that to accumulate, right? Sounds bad, but truthfully, I wash the floor quite a bit but unfortunately the mops (and I've had several) don't seem to keep it from happening. Maybe if I hands and kneed it once a month or so then it wouldn't happen, but I'm just a lazy person. My house is LIVED in, but not disgusting or anything if you know what I mean. I have a collection of dust bunnies that like to be moved around once in a while and sucked up into the vacuum cleaner on occasion but for the most part they enjoy their accommodations under various beds, dressers, couches and such and I don't like to disturb them.


So why am I talking about all this? Well, while I was scrubbing my son comes in and says why are you doing all that, it's just going to get that way again. I chuckled to myself and said because it needs to be done. Then I got to thinking how blessed we are that God doesn't feel that way about us sinners. I can picture the Devil saying, 'Why bother God, they're just going to get dirty again.'


They are just going to get dirty again, so why bother.


We can say this about any number of things in life can't we? Yet, we need to be clean, we need things to be cleaned. We can't live our lives surrounded by dirt, can we? Some people do, and we label them in a lot of bad ways.


We weren't meant to be stained with sin. When we were created we were created sinless and we weren't meant to have to live with sin in our lives. We were created perfect, we were created good. No... we were created VERY good.


Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.


Very good. We were not created for sin. We were NOT created with the intent that we would be born, grow to adult hood, and then slowly deteriorate over time until our bodies could no longer survive. We were created very good. Death was NOT supposed to be a part of our lives, not in any way. The stain of sin was not supposed to cover us but that is as they say… water under the bridge. It happened and now we live this way and some might be inclined to say that we're sinners so that's that, why bother cleaning the sin from our lives if we just remain sinners.


We sin and we ask for forgiveness, then we sin again and we ask forgiveness again- this is how it must be because to just allow ourselves to sin unchecked without feeling any need for forgiveness is to allow that sin to accumulate. The accumulation of sin weighs heavy on our lives, on our spirit. We can't pretend that sin isn't there, or rather we can pretend but that won't make it true. Sins don't just magically slip away, sins don't just disappear, they don't vaporize, they don't have no effect on us. Sin has a lot of effect on our lives but quite often people don't even notice that it does. People don't want to think about the effects of sin in their lives.


Sin is real, but people will encourage others not to believe that sin is real. Whether you believe sin is real or not, it is. Whether you believe you're a sinner or not, you are. We are stained by sin and only the cleansing blood of our Savior can clean that stain.


Odd isn't it, to think about how our human blood stains and isn't always easy to get out. Blood gets into things and often it takes a strong chemical like bleach to destroy all traces of it. From the various crime shows I've seen on tv bleach is one of the only means of getting blood out and off of things and it isn't easy. Blood stains, yet it's the Blood of Christ that frees us from the stain of sin. It's Christ's blood that makes us white as snow.


Isa 1:18 ... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


1Jn 1:7 ... the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.


Our sins are as scarlet, our sins are red like crimson- when we ask for forgiveness with genuine repentance then it's Christ's blood that washes over us- cleansing the blood of our sin. Christ's blood washes away the blood of our sins, but if we do not ask for forgiveness then Christ's blood cannot wash away our sins. We remain filthy, we remain covered in sin.


Christ forgives us over and over again, praise God! Yes, we might sin over and over again, just as so much in our lives gets dirty over and over- very little ever stays clean and that's a fact. We spend a lot of time cleaning things in our lives, daily we clean things- ourselves and all that is around us. If we don't clean things, or have others clean them for us we would live in filth and be filthy. We cannot clean sin from ourselves but we can set the cleaning in motion by asking for forgiveness and the mercy of our Savior will clean us by His grace, His love, His righteousness.


So yes, we will get dirty again, just as kitchen floors get dirty over and over, just as so much in life gets dirty and it takes someone's effort or something's effort to clean(look at all the effort we are saved from expending by our washing machines, our dryers, our dishwashers, our self-cleaning ovens, etc). The only one who can clean us spiritually is Christ, there is no other and there will never be another. We must seek cleansing from Christ often, whenever we knowingly get dirty by sin we have to purposely- knowingly ask for forgiveness, this is real, this is a fact, this is necessary and we cannot forget it, we just can't.


Tomorrow we'll pick up more on prophecy, but today this needed to be said.


By the grace of our Lord we may be saved, only by His grace!


In His love always!!! Forgive us Lord, forgive us! Cleanse us!


Amen.