A Thorough Washing

Most of the time we (either me or our helper) wash our cars by hand.  Just a rag and a bucket of water to take out whatever dirt or dust we see on the car.  But once in a while I treat our cars to a car wash.  Some people call them a "car spa", as if cars know what they were experiencing while being washed.  But bringing a car through a car wash is a pleasing experience for a car owner.
First, they use a power sprayer to get as much dirt and grime out of the body of the car and the tires.  They spray water through every crack, every corner, and you see the dirt being pushed out.  Then they use car shampoo, again on every visible part of the car, which not only cleans the dirt off, but after drying leaves the body of the car with a certain smoothness (or is it just my imagination?).  After that the car looks spotless!  And even it rains on the same day that you had your car washed, at least you know that rain fell on a clean car, and whatever dirt or mud that would stick to the car would be new dirt.

Watching my car being washed reminded me of how David asked the Lord to cleanse him after the Holy Spirit, through Nathan, revealed his sin of adultery:
Psalms 51:7  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Hyssop was a plant used by priests to symbolize ceremonial cleansing of sin.  David was not referring to priests performing their duty, but asking God to cleanse him inside, as if with hyssop, to make him clean before the eyes of God.
And, he asked God to wash him so that he would be whiter than snow.
Now that's a power washing...one that only God can do.  And will do.

By position we are all washed clean when we come to believe in Jesus as our Savior.
1 Corinthians 6:11  And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

But in everyday life, when we do not walk by the Spirit, we may still fall into sin as we follow the desires of our flesh.  A Christian is not sinless...we just sin less.  But there still is a tendency for us to sin.  For that we need God's cleansing for the sin we commit.  

1 John 1:8-9  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It is not a cleansing for us to be accepted again before God, as if we have lost it.  No, we have been fully accepted when we believed Christ as our Savior.  This is a cleansing, a forgiveness, that keeps our fellowship with God pure and unhindered.

This washing should come everyday...actually, every moment that we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin, and as He restores us to fellowship with God.

This is a thorough washing we have enjoyed with our faith in Christ as Savior, and that we continue enjoy as we walk in the light, in fellowship with Christ.

Let's enjoy this loving expression of God's grace through Christ.