Make Us Clean

Following on from Malcolm Kayes’ excellent sermon on dealing with disappointment and hurt, I had the image of God’s love like water, washing over us, cleansing us from our pain. The psalmist writes ‘Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me’ (Psalm 42:7). This image of God’s power is overwhelming; standing under a waterfall or out at sea with high waves crashing is both scary and awesome… the water is much more powerful than we can ever be. And that is what God’s cleansing power is like – it’s not a measly trickling drip of water, it can completely wash us clean. Our hearts, minds and our bodies are all restored by the work of the Holy Spirit when we come to Him asking for His help.

We are all unclean in so many ways, whether we are aware of it or not. Malcolm spoke of the choice we have when we are hurt – do we come to God and ask Him for His help, looking to the cross, or are we choosing to allow bitterness to grow in our hearts?

Looking back in Scripture at the imagery of cleansing, there is a long list of things designated as unclean in the book of Leviticus (ch. 11-15). There are unclean animals, bodies bleeding and affected by disease, even mould and mildew - all demonstrating that things are not the way they were created to be in the Garden of Eden. But God didn’t leave the Israelites to deal with uncleanliness, he provided detailed ways in which the unclean became clean, and for the clean to become holy.

Just as God didn’t abandon the Israelites, his plan was to cleanse the world for good, through the blood of an all-sufficient sacrifice, his own Son. Jesus, who is completely clean and pure, continually touched unclean people and made them well. The unclean woman who had been bleeding for twelve years in Luke 8, merely ‘touched the edge of his cloak’ as she was so ashamed of her uncleanliness. Yet Jesus brought total healing, both to her body and her soul, saying ‘your faith has healed you, go in peace’.

Now we, just like the unclean woman, can approach Jesus in whatever state and do as much as turn to Him, and He will heal us. As Hebrews 9 v 14 puts it: ‘How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!’ It’s amazing that our consciences are cleansed – It’s those thoughts that cause us to think unhealthily about situations that God can renew, so we don’t indulge the hurt when we’re offended, but we have the Holy Spirit’s power to forgive and be restored.

That’s what my prayer is this week, that we can come to God in our quiet times and be honest with Him, admitting where we might be holding onto hurt. And His powerful promise is that he will cleanse our minds and our hearts so we can move forward, becoming more like Christ each day.