”Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good.” (Isaiah 1:16-17a NASB)
When washing your garments, they go in dirty and come out clean, ideally. They go in and the process starts with selecting the right setting for you’re your garments, get soaked with water, experience the washing cycle followed by a rinse cycle and a spin cycle before the status of “clean” is reached. At times, to reach “clean,” there is the option of an added rinse cycle, and of course another spin cycle. There are other times you have to start the cycle all over again when your inspection of the items, by sight and smell, determine that the items are not “clean.” Supplementary products such as fabric softener, bleach, and spays for hard to remove process are needed. The quick point is that the garment is not ready for wear just by throwing it in the washer and taking it out.
We religiously attend church every week. We go through the process called the Order of Worship, highlighted by the message sent by God ,and delivered by the preacher. The threefold “Amen” after the doxology signals that church is over. It’s like the “chime” on your washing machine. We leave, but as we leave, we must remember that the process is not over. In our minds we have to go through certain cycles: the review cycle, the reflection cycle, the re-examining of our lives cycle, the recognizing that there is more to be done to be cleaner on the outside cycle, and finally the reacting, the revival, and the renewal cycles. That’s what I call “washing machine religion.” And let me add, we must go through the cycle week after week. Our supplementary products are prayer, fellowship, and the continued study of the word.
Now I’m sure you have had people that you have talked to, either doing personal evangelism or just talking about how happy you are at your church, say, “I go to church.” Noteworthy is the fact that many people “go to church,” but just going is not enough! We all have to go through the “washing machine religion” process mentioned above. Rejoice my friend! Rejoice because you are not one of those individuals who just go to church! Rejoice because every week, and often during the week, even daily, you go through the “washing machine religion” process, and you end up clean on the inside and clean on the outside! Rejoice! Keep doing what you are doing! Make sure your outfit of Christian character is looking just as good every day of the week as it was the previous Sunday! Need help? There is a song that I have heard where the lyrics are simple, “Won’t He make you clean inside?” Need more help? Get back in the “washing machine,” God’s word! Yes, He will cleanse you, completely transform you! Have a great Friday! Talk with you tomorrow, okay? Be blessed!
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Romans 12:1-2 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King