and it's still dirty!

*originally posted february 16th, 2009*

Yesterday was bathroom-cleaning day. Not sure if any of you have tile showers, but man! They are a pain to clean! Over time, this nasty crud builds up in between all of the little squares, kind of like that gross pink toothpaste that the destist cleans your teeth with. Yuck. So I decided yesterday that I was done being disgusted by my own shower, and I would gently scrub it all away. HA. Easier said than done. Talk about a total body work out! I must have looked compeltely ridiculous, leaning in all sorts of directions, my body in all sorts of weird contortions, all while trying to hold my balance on the slippery surface. You gotta scrub that stuff hard! Mad props to my mother…I never knew it was this much work.
Anyways, nearly an hour later, I stepped back to marvel and muse over my work, only it wasn’t what I had hoped. The grime? Yeah, still there. As hard as I had worked, I just could not get it as clean as I wanted it. Maybe I had the bar set too high. I was hoping for a spotless tub, one that I could take a wonderful relaxing bath in, and not worry about the nasties creeping all around me.
Now this may sound super silly, like I’m overanalyzing it and just trying to God-ify it all, but I honestly could not stop thinking about much that shower resembles life– full of sin in every corner, every crack, and along every line. It’s no way to live. It leaves you empty, unsatisfied, and frankly, just disgusting. All of that, until we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. Now I’m sure that had I brought in a professional to clean my shower, he could have cleaned it to the degree that I wanted and tonight I’d probably be going home to take a nice warm, relaxing bubble bath with candles and a good book. (Man, that sounds good!) But that’s just it. I, in my own strength and humanness, cannot cleanse my life of sin. You know how when you sin, you know you did, and you say you’ll never do it again? Then you try and try and try, but on your own, you’re just never going to get there. It is only only only by the blood of Jesus. Whew! Thank heavens for that! Can I get an amen??
If you know the freedom there is in what I’ve just described, I encourage you to take a minute and just breathe a prayer of thankfulness to your Savior. He is so worthy. Amen. Amen. Amen!