Nothing Like A Good Cleaning

“… cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
– Hebrews 9:22 (NIV)

When I was in elementary school, I remember having our school nurse come to my class to discuss good dental hygiene. Every student was given a new toothbrush and a small sample size of toothpaste (all donated to the school by some toothpaste company). She also gave us some special little tablets that we could chew after brushing our teeth which would show us how well we cleaned our teeth during brushing. Through a demonstration with one of my classmates, the nurse showed that if we didn’t brush our teeth well, the little tablets would stain our teeth red. Apparently, my classmate didn’t brush his teeth very well because he grinned a bright red smile at the class to our delight.

What we learned was that we needed to do more than just go through the motions of brushing our teeth in order to get our teeth really clean. We needed to accept the instructions we were given by the nurse and follow the procedures in order to have clean and healthy teeth.

I am thankful that our lives, which are stained by sin, can be cleansed and made as white as snow, not because of following some religious rituals but because of accepting the cleansing that comes from what Jesus did for us on the cross.

The prophet Isaiah records an invitation by God to come to Him in order to be cleansed from sin. “‘Come, let’s talk this over,’ says the Lord, ‘no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!’” (Isaiah 1:18 – Living Bible).

The writer of Hebrews describes the inadequacy of ritual sacrifice and how the death of Jesus Christ completely covered the requirements for the forgiveness of sins and the provision of salvation. The author writes, “If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God. … Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation” (Hebrews 9:13-15, 27-28 – The Message).

Imagine what would happen in your life if there was some type of spiritual “tablet” you could take that exposed whether you were going through the motions of devotion and commitment to the Lord or if you had been thoroughly cleansed by blood of Jesus Christ? Ultimately, we will have to stand before the Lord and give an account of our lives based on what we did with Jesus (see Revelation 20:12-15). Only those who have trusted Jesus for forgiveness and salvation from sins will be with God for all time after this judgment (see Revelation 21:1-8, 27).

Praise God we can pray now to Him and ask Him to wash away our sins and make us clean through Jesus Christ. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (English Standard Version). And God promises, “I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me” (Jeremiah 33:8 NIV). We can simply pray to God by faith what David prayed in Psalm 51: “Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. … Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalms 51:2, 7 – New Living Translation).

To quote some of our hymns of the faith: “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” And, “Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” Praise God we can receive a good and thorough cleaning from the stains of sin through Jesus Christ.

God Will Never Let Go

“The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me; he is my helper. …”
– Psalms 118:6 – 7a NIV

Several years ago, I heard a tiny little knock on my bedroom door in the middle of the night by Daniel, my oldest son. It was storming outside and the loud thunder and nearby flashes of lightning made him very frightened. So I got up and went to his room with him and I stayed with him during the storm. We talked about the loudness of the thunder in relation to the nearness of the lightning, counting off guesses as to how near the lightning was to us. After a while the storm passed and Daniel drifted off to sleep with his dad nearby.

When we face the storms of life, we all need to be reminded and have our faith encouraged to know that our Heavenly Father is always nearby to give us courage and strength.

During “Day 3” (Wednesday, June 11) of our Power Lab™ Vacation Bible School (Group Publishing), we had an incredible day with 104 kids in attendance “discovering Jesus’ miraculous power.” That day's Bible Point was “Jesus gives us the power to be brave!” (“Aha!”). And the kids learned about how when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on water. But when Peter focused on the waves and on the storm…blub, blub, blub—down he sank. After calling for Jesus to help, Peter was rescued by the hand of Jesus. Then they climbed into the boat together after Jesus asked Peter why he doubted (Matthew 14:22-33).

That’s my question. Why do we doubt and fear? God is pretty clear in His Scriptures that because He is with us, we have nothing to fear. And yet we worry and shake in our boots whenever the slightest breeze of trouble blows our way. Granted, many people I know have been or are currently in the middle of some hurricane-force storms of life through the loss of loved ones or through dealing with major sickness. Yet, some that I have talked to about how they are doing have expressed a strength of faith that has truly inspired and encouraged me.

When the waves and storms of life are blowing around us, can anything or anyone truly harm us if God is with us through them all? According to the promises of God’s word, THEY CAN’T! The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalms 118:6 (listed above) in Hebrews 13:6: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (NIV) But what gives the writer of Hebrews such “confidence” is found at the end of the preceding verse, “…God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (v. 5b NIV), where he quotes Moses’ words to Israel and Joshua (see Deuteronomy 31:6 & 8).

When we have to face anything in life, we can have the confidence to be brave because God is always with us and He promises never to leave us. This was what the children learned at VBS in their “Power Verse” for the day 3 from Psalm 23:4: “I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me” (NLT).

By faith in Jesus Christ, we can rest assured that nothing—neither storms of life nor even our failures and sins—can loosen God’s grip on our lives. Jesus said in John 10:29: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (NIV). According to Paul, it’s God’s strong love that holds us tight to Him regardless of what tries to pull us from Him. Paul wrote, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV).

Therefore, knowing that my strong and loving God is always with me as my Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, gives me the courage and the power to be brave. There are no storm winds that are stronger than God’s love for me. God will never let go of me.

I close with the words to one of my favorite praise songs by Matt and Beth Redman, which the kids learned at Power Lab™. It’s called “You Never Let Go”.

Even though I walk / Through the valley of the shadow of death / Your perfect love is casting out fear / And even when I'm caught / In the middle of the storms of this life / I won't turn back I know You are near.
And I will fear no evil / For my God is with me / And if my God is with me / Whom then shall I fear? / Whom then shall I fear?
Oh no, You never let go / Through the calm and through the storm / Oh no, You never let go / In every high and every low / Oh no, You never let go / Lord, You never let go of me.

(©2005 Thankyou Music, CCLI License #1167348)

Thank you, God, for never letting go of me.