Just Add Water

Looking, feeling, and smelling clean is a good thing, right? Not only for yourself, but for those around you! The definition of 'clean' is to be free from dirt, marks, or stains. We take for granted how easy we have it today to get clean. In generations past, taking a bath was a chore! Gathering and heating the water was such a task that several people enjoyed the bath before the water was thrown out. You wouldn't want to be the last one in line! Though they washed their hands, feet, and face regularly, a full bath was sometimes done every few weeks, or longer. Unless you were wealthy, then you might have had the luxury of bathing more often. It was even widely believed that if you bathed too often, you could get sick. Probably due to unclean water conditions. Thankfully our standards of hygiene have improved, along with the development of our water and sanitation infrastructure systems.

But what if there's more to 'being clean' than just our external, physical self. What if our hearts need a good scrubbing as well. And what does that even mean? The human heart is a complicated thing, don't you think?

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

Our heart is the source of our attitudes, words, and deeds. Things like selfishness, lies, lust, envy, pride, self pity .... all come from our heart/natural nature. Did you ever notice that it's so difficult to rule over our will and affections? After all, we want what we want, right? Good, bad, or indifferent. Our hearts are deceitful above all things; like how something can 'feel' right, but be completely wrong. So the ole adage of 'follow your heart' is probably not great advice. We can't help it really, it's how we were all born, into sin. BUT....there is hope! Always hope!

"Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

What does it mean to be pure in heart? The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things; having a singleness of heart toward the One who created us and everything around us. It is more than an external purity of behavior, it is an internal purity of soul; a heart free from our impure and disordered passions. A pure heart has no hypocrisy, no guile, and no hidden motives.

But how do we get there? Simply by humbling ourselves (admitting that we are indeed sinners), asking for forgiveness for our sinful ways, and seeking Him through His Word and prayer.

Speaking of water ...... we are grateful for water and our water system, right? I know I am! I'm very thankful to turn on a faucet, hot or cold, and out comes water! The Bible (world's best-selling book of all time) refers to water hundreds of times; referenced primarily as the Word of God and Salvation. So, it seems pretty easy really to get clean. Just add water.

"Create in me a clean heart"