Have You Been to Jesus for Cleansing Power?

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, ESV)

A friend stopped by this morning to help us clean the carpets before Sophia comes home. I had know for some time that the carpets were getting dingy, but until I began moving furniture this morning I didn't realize just how dingy. I have vacuumed them a couple of times over the past week and a half and had pretreated some of the stains, but we still had to vacuum the floors twice today to get them ready for cleaning. I went through the house pretreating spots again. Then it was time to begin. As my friend began running the carpet cleaner over the carpet, I began watch the transformation. The low traffic spots (like under the couch) looked brand new after just one pass of the machine.

However, the high traffic and very dingy areas seemed unaffected by the efforts of the machine. The first pass only made them look dingy and wet. Yet, with each subsequent pass and my friend's vigilant care the grime began to fade. Our carpet, once more spotted than a leopard, began to resemble its former soft cream color. The moral to this story is: buy dark carpet-it shows less dirt.

Actually, what really hit me is the parallel between a dingy carpet and a dingy life. Living has a funny way of tracking dirt throughout the houses of our lives. The Bible calls this dirt sin. Sin is when we break God's law (see Exodus 20; Duet 5) by doing what we shouldn't or not doing what we should. Respectively, these are called sins of commission and sins of omission. These sins have separated us from God. They have made us dingy in his sight. And each day our lives accumulate more dirt. The good news is that God, who is holy (think dirt free/clean) and just (flawless/perfect) has provided a way for our sins to be cleansed. God said that all sin must be punished by death. In his great love and great justice, God sent his Son, Jesus, to be a substitute for us. Jesus lived a sinless life that pleased his Father very much and willingly offered to die in our place for our sins. So that, now if we believe that he is the eternal Son of God, who took on flesh, lived a sinless life, died in our place, and was raised to life again on the third day we will have all our sins cleansed.

After we have our sins forgiven the Lord begins the process of transforming us. We call this process sanctification, which means being made holy (set apart/clean). Through justification (God's gracious acquittal of our sins), we receive a positional holiness. God views us, in Christ, as holy. However, our experience teaches us that we are not yet (completely) holy. Many Bible scholars refer to this tension as the already-not yet. In one sense we are already holy, but in another sense we are not yet fully holy, so we await the resurrection when our holiness is made complete. This takes me back to my carpet analogy. When we turn to Jesus, he drops into our lives and begins to the cleansing process. In the less trafficked areas we look pretty clean. But, in those areas where there was the heavy traffic of sin, the first past may leave us looking dingy and wet. However the vigilant care of our friend Jesus will continue to go over those spots until our lives are as clean as his. Much like a carpet our lives will need perpetual cleaning, because something is always getting tracked in. Unlike the carpet our lives won't eventually get discarded, because the Lord preserves them as he cleans. And one day he will finish the task (glorification) and our lives will never be stained again.

I want to thank my friend for cleaning my carpets. Your hard work and service is greatly appreciated. And I want Jesus for cleaning my my life. His gracious sacrifice has brought me to God. Thank you, Lord Jesus.