Sticky Notes from God~~~~~~ Full Service Deal

“Lord wash us with the water of your word”

Too often when we get into the Bible we go for a quick snack, a sponge bath, a first aid kit, and touch of partial truths to suit itching ears. In other words we get out of it exactly what efforts we put in to it. The dust that settled on our Bibles from lack of use will only fly off to settle in our hearts if that’s all we are willing to do.

 

If we go for a snack it’s exactly what we’ll get as we will never get the benefit of a full meal deal because we chose to grab something on the run. A bite here and there will never give us the nourishment we need as opposed to really feeding off and digesting what God has to say.

 

Stopping by to put a Band-Aid over our wounds may help for a little while but it will never give us the healing we require for deeply infected wounds. We don’t need something to hide our wounds. We need the Great Physician and Lord to heal us from within. Someone who knows about wound care that will heal us to where we need to be.

 

Dipping into God’s word for a quick sponge bath is like splashing water over our hands without the soap in our rush to move on. It doesn’t do the job. In order to be cleansed we need to get into God’s word like a full service bath and soak in it long enough to wash away the dirt of sin.

 

Digging out partial truths wanting to hear strictly the things our ears are willing to listen to will only get us further into the pits we are digging for ourselves. Indeed we like to read in God’s word that we are loved and that whoever believes will have everlasting life but we ignore the warnings of those doomed for the lake of fire, the consequences of disobedience, and the importance of being like Christ. We think it’s good enough to read where we are forgiven but we don’t want to hear about the part that tells us we are to forgive others first.

 

It’s time to stop playing around and start to go for the full service deal and get serious about getting our spiritual lives into shape. Standing before the Lord on judgment day with our spiritual pretend mommy at our side licking her finger so she can rub off the dirt on our face so we can pass inspection isn’t going to work. It will never pass the scrutiny of God’s judgment when He looks into our motives, actions, attitudes, laziness, and choices of our life on earth.

 

No, what we need now is the full service deal of the benefit of getting into God’s word in order to be cleansed, fed, guided, and restored.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

In Udder Words~~~~~~~~Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

Psalm 24:3-5 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

 

In this passage a question was asked, “Who may ascend to stand in God’s holy place?” The answer given was direct and to the point. Those with clean hands and a pure heart who haven’t lifted their soul to an idol or lied basically will be the ones. In other words it’s important we aren’t caught with dirty hands or a heart that is not pure.

 

As a child growing up one of the requirements before eating a meal we needed to wash our hands first. Living on a ranch and being outdoors all the time it was obvious our hands were in need of cleaning first before eating. The slobber of the horse, the smell of the pigs, and the mud from the pond all needed to go. A quick run over with the bar of soap and the job was done and it was meal time! Luckily we didn’t have to stop and work on purifying our hearts first as well each time. If that was true I don’t think we ever would have been able to eat.

 

Because of the rules of mom, dad, and their parents before them we understand why we need to clean our hands before we eat or wash them after we do something like going to the bathroom. It’s just good hygiene that is necessary to prevent the creation of an illness and the spreading of various diseases. Too bad this isn’t more obvious to people in regards to their spiritual lives. Is it the fault of our parents and their parents before them for not passing that information along? In some ways yes and other ways no. We need to take responsibility for our own cleanliness.

 

Indeed we have failed to emphasis the importance of clean spiritual hands in our quest for good spiritual hygiene. Just like mom wasn’t going to let us eat with dirty hands God isn’t going to let us ascend into the hill of the Lord with dirty hands either.

 

At the door of our heart God has placed a wash basin for us to use to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts all in one easy step. The step of accepting Jesus into our lives and living obediently to His standards, His house rules, His word. He gives us the “how to,” the bar of soap needed to get cleaned up but the rest is up to us to do.

 

Daily it’s up to us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts by asking the Lord for forgiveness for the things we have done against His will. To repent and turn our lives around to follow Him wholly instead of the idols we erected to satisfy us until we make up our minds what we want in life. Instead of dirtying our hands with the lies we tell and the poor choices we make we need to wash our hands of these things.

 

As mom would often have to check our hands to make sure they were totally clean God will be checking our hands at the door of Heaven to see if they are clean as well. The slobber of our addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex, money, food, and such has to go. The smell of the aroma of our bad attitude has to go. The mud from the sins we committed large or small has to be washed off first.

It’s best to be cleansed now instead of just before the next meal because we don’t know when Christ will be returning. I said we don’t know “when” He will be returning but the fact of the matter is He will be here again and we need to be ready.

Don’t be caught with dirty hands. Idols, things that stand between us and God don’t save us. It’s God who is the Lord of our salvation. It’s important we clean up and look our spiritual best for His next and final arrival. Forever ready on the spot to show what He already should be seeing in us, clean hands and a pure heart.

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing