Are You Washed?

We can clean our bodies, but only Jesus can cleanse our souls

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In my home, we hardly ever run the dishwasher. We use it as a dish rack, and it only gets turned on when the dishwasher needs cleaning. Whether the sink is overloaded or has a slight accumulation, I prefer to hand wash everything. I enjoy doing the dishes. It gives me the joy of accomplishing a task and the satisfaction that they are cleaned to my standards. Also, since I need to rinse the dirty kitchenware before placing it in the dishwasher, I might as well wash it thoroughly once and finish the task in one shot.

Dishes, glasses, and utensils are rela­tively quick to clean, but when it comes to pots and pans, they require a bit of extra work. Dirty pots and pans must be scrubbed well to remove the grease and burnt-on food. They require more attention inside than outside. The outside can be left with lingering stains, but the inside must be perfectly clean, as each pot will be used to cook food again.

I need to ensure they are pristine, without any residue left over.

As I was enjoying scrubbing some pots lately, it made me think of the contrary ways in which we clean ourselves spiritually. If we give our lives to Jesus, we may focus more on cleaning our bodies externally than we do internally: We try to scrub off the worldly lifestyle that we’ve been living and alter our external habits so that people can notice changes in us. But we often ignore our internal transformation. We remain dirty internally, carrying onward with our secret sins such as lust, pride, arrogance, bitterness, shrewdness, and hatred. Since these are not visible to the world, we change what is noticeable from the outside. We seem more concerned about our Christian reputation than our godly character.

Outside and in

Character is who we are as a person from the inside. Reputation is who people think we are outwardly. Our thoughts, intentions, and desires make up our character, which can be concealed. Since these can be hidden from the public eye, we worry more about our reputation as others see it. To maintain our Christian status in front of people, we often only show the good side of us. We hide our reality and attempt to impress people by displaying those qualities that we think make us look good.

People may rate us based on what they see, but God evaluates us based on our character. He only cares about how clean and beautiful we are from within.

When we repent from our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we dedicate ourselves to be used as a vessel according to His will and for His glory. We invite God’s spirit to live in our hearts and become His holy temple in which to reside. Nonetheless, how could a holy God dwell in us while we remain unholy and continue to be dirty from within? Holiness cannot co-exist with unholiness. Therefore, we must be cleansed internally. We must allow God to surface those internal sins that need deep scrubbing before worrying about our external impression.

Jesus cleanses us

Surely, we all have many hard-to-remove stains of sin, but if we bring our dirty vessels to God, He can forgive us and scrub off any stains of sin and shame.

Jesus died on the cross and paid the debt for our sins. He offers us the free gift of salvation; all that is required of us is simply to accept it. If you haven’t accepted this gift yet, I’d invite you to do so without hesitation, as it could be the very best decision you’ll ever make on this earth and for eternity.

Genuinely pray this prayer and invite Jesus into your heart today: “Dear Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I repent of my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Wash me from within and make me a holy vessel for your honor and glory. I invite you to come into my heart to be the Lord and Savior of my life. Help me to live a life that reflects your love in me. In Jesus’ name, amen!”

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by Cleris Christian is an active soldier at the Philadelphia Citadel Corps and a former Territorial Soldiers Express Council member