Wash Me, Daddy

Monday, August 4, 2008 “If we freely admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son will continuously cleanse us from all sin.” (I John 1:7b, 9) Do you remember as a child when you came in from playing, usually in the dirt, your Mom or Dad would send you to wash before coming to the table or touching anything. They expected us to wash thoroughly, even to our elbows if necessary. After doing a "Beaver Cleaver" wash (fingertips and wiping the rest on the towel), more often than not we would return half washed only to be sent back "to do a thorough job." In the spiritual realm our Abba Father (Daddy) invites us to His banqueting table for spiritual food and fellowship - but we must come with clean hands and a pure heart (Ps.24:4; II Cor.7:1). He sends us to the laver (Ex.30:18) (Jesus Christ) to be cleansed from all sin (Ps.51:7). With His own blood He has purged us from our sin (I Jn.1:9) and now sits at the right hand of the Father (Heb.1:3b). In the industrial environment there is testing for “safe” levels of toxins where not all the impurities are removed, just enough not to be harmful. But spiritually even one sin separates us from God. But when we come to Jesus He cleanses us from all sin and impurities (I Jn.1:9) and because we are in Christ we sit with Him at the right hand of Abba Father (Acts 2:34). The only “safe” way to live is to live confessed and cleansed from all sins. In one of Martin Luther’s writings he tells that he once dreamed that Satan came to him and told him he could never hope to get to heaven because he was such a sinner. Luther asked his accuser, “Do you have a list of my sins?” “Yes,” said Satan, and he brought him a long list of Luther’s failures, which Luther remembered. Twice Luther asked if there were any more, and both times Satan brought him a still remembered list. Again, Luther asked if there were any more. “That is all,” Satan said. Luther cried, “Then write now across them all, ‘the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.’” In the light of the Truth of God’s Word with which Luther defended his faith, Satan had to leave (James.4:7)!! Have your sins been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ? Search me, O God, and know my heart today; Try me, O Savior, know my thought, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me; Cleanse me from ev'ry sin and set me free. Edwin Orr (based on Ps.139:23)