Whenever
I (Aimee) brush my teeth it always makes my mouth feel amazing. I find the actual
process soothing for some reason (maybe it’s the repetition). But when I’m
done. Wow. My mouth is so clean and fresh. All the grime of the day is gone and
I just feel wonderful. And what’s funny is that usually it isn’t as if I walk
around after a meal with my mouth feeling disgusting. My mouth doesn’t feel
icky. And I make sure that I’m not walking
around with food stuck in my teeth. I don’t feel gross, yet when I’m clean, the
difference is like night and day and I almost wonder why I waited so long after
eating to brush when I could have felt this amazing sooner!
As
I was brushing my teeth and thinking of this, and thinking about how great it
makes me feel when my mouth is all clean, I started thinking about how Jesus
cleans us.
We
walk around and, for the most part, we don’t feel dirty and disgusting even
though we are. We sin all the time. We make bad choices, we reject God, we
choose the world, and all the while our souls are getting dirty and stained
more than our teeth after eating Oreo cookies (if you can’t picture what I
mean, eat an Oreo and then go look at your teeth in a mirror). The point is, we
may not feel gross and dirty, but we are. And we need to be cleaned.
Jesus
died on the cross so that His blood could wipe away our sins. He’s our soul-brush,
if you will follow the metaphor with me. He brushes away all of the grime of
the day so that we can feel amazing again! But unlike how we need to brush our
teeth every day, Jesus cleanses us once and for all (check out John 13:2-11,
taking particular note of v.10, or check out the discussion in Hebrews 10:1-18).
So that after we’ve been cleaned by Jesus’ blood, when we get dirty again with
sin, all we have to do is admit our wrong and seek forgiveness and it’s like
the dirt just falls off. No more brushing required. Grace and mercy keep away
the yucky sin-plaque build-up on our souls.
Those
who don’t know the Lord don’t know how truly dirty their souls are. They don’t
turn to the Lord because they don’t realize their need for Him. It’s like
someone who never brushed their teeth because no one ever told them what a
difference it would make for the health of their teeth and their health
overall.
Those
who do know the Lord, who mess up, and then who walk around in denial of their
sin, or are afraid or too ashamed to admit what they’ve done wrong are like people
who don’t brush cause they don’t want to admit they ate that candy, even though
it’s gumming up their teeth and anybody who tries to talk to them can see the
evidence right there.
Have
I carried the metaphor too far? Have I lost you or are you following me?
Do
you tell your friends about Jesus? Have you told the people in your life about
the man who can cleanse them of all the dirt in their lives? Would you tell
your friend if they had a big piece of green broccoli stuck in their teeth but shy
away from pointing out the giant black sin that’s staining them?
How
often do you walk around dirty because of pride or fear? What makes you think
that you’re too dirty to be cleaned? What makes you think you’re so clean that
you don’t need the Cleaner now and then?
Just something that I was
thinking about. I hope that it gave you something
to think about too.
