How do you get things really clean? The scripture used the picture of the whiteness of snow and of milk in comparison to a life without sin. How do you get things really clean?
I know how strange that may sound, but it is the truth and I'll warn you right up front, "DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME".
When we were youngsters, it was a common practice for parents to "wash out the mouth" of a disobedient youngsters with soap. Normally this happened when they were using words (or language) that were not appropriate, often a curse word they had heard somewhere and had been warned about using. I honestly don't remember ever having to endure that experience (I may have blocked the memory), but I know many of my young age mates did.
Yesterday was an extremely busy day for us. Melody was cleaning (everything) in preparation for a group of ladies coming to the house the next day. I was helping out and we were both rushing around trying to complete the tasks we had chosen to do. In the afternoon I decided to take a break and fix me a cup of tea. I rushed into the kitchen and filled my cup with distilled water, put the jug back away and noticed I had filled the cup too high. I picked up the cup and took a mouthful of the water and immediately realized there was something wrong. After I finished spiting and washing my mouth out with water (it kind of helped) I realized there was another cup on the counter also.
It seems that Melody had put water in to a cup and mixed Oxyclean (soap) into the cup, stained with tea, to do some cleaning. Of course I managed to pick up the wrong cup. And no, I didn't get mad, I just laughed at the foolishness of the situation!
I wonder how you would have reacted (or have reacted) when something that makes you feel foolish happens to you? I laughingly told Melody, "Look what you made me do", (but honestly, I took full credit for the incident). One passage came to mind after this where David cried to God to be cleansed from his sins. Psalm 51:7, tells us: "Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow". As I said, don't try this at home (however I think my teeth may be a little brighter).
They say that "you can't judge a book by its cover or a man by his appearance." But I believe that you can find out a lot about a person by noticing what makes them mad or how they react to foolish or difficulty situations.
How are you doing?
