Want to know God?

Shades Crest Baptist Church, Bluff Park

Several years ago I purchased a pallet of centipede sod, and early one July morning I began laying roll after roll of it in my front yard. By the end of the day I was exhausted, sore and dirty — really dirty. In fact, I don’t recall ever having so much dirt on my body before. Sweat mixed with dirt covered me from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I was a mess. I’ve never enjoyed getting a shower more than I did on that day. The cool water was refreshing, and before long I was clean again.

Perhaps you can relate with that on a spiritual level. You bought what the world had to offer as you tried to lay down a life for yourself. Along the way, you compromised your morals, hurt people around you and violated your own soul. As a result, you found yourself covered with the dirt of shame and regret. It wasn’t a good feeling, so you did everything you could to get rid of it.

However, try as you may, it still clings to your soul reminding you of the poor choices you made. The result is a debilitating sense of self. One person described it as feeling “a glob of unworthiness” inside. In such a state, what you want more than anything is to feel clean again. That’s true for all of us. There’s not a person alive who is beyond the need to be made clean.

What we may not realize is that even when we are still covered with the dirt of the past and our shame is ever before us, God still loves us and has a way for us to be clean again. It’s called forgiveness. John, one of the first followers of Jesus, put it this way, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

So you don’t have to be defined by your shameful past anymore. You can be clean. How? Tell God the truth about your regrets and failures. Take responsibility for the sinful choices you have made. Then allow the wonderful shower of His grace to wash over your life cleansing you from all of it. The shower is waiting. Climb in and enjoy.