Purity.

I have the most adorable 10 year old son, whom I love terribly so. He is so smart and so funny and so very sweet; there’s just one thing, he always has food on his face or a juice mustache just above his lip. Now, it doesn’t really bother me, and it obviously bothers him even less, but my oldest son just can’t stand it. “Mom, make him clean his face, it’s so gross,” is his constant complaint with regard to his youngest brother.

Finally, the other day, I sat down with my oldest son and asked him, “Why does this bother you so much?” He explained to me that he didn’t really know why. He said it didn’t really bother him so much when his brother was younger, because he thought, “Surely, some day he’ll realize how dirty his face is – when he’s older.” But, as his brother grew older, he just kind of came to the realization that it’s not that his brother doesn’t know that his face is dirty, it’s that he just ignores it and expects and wants everyone else to do the same.

I smiled and hugged my oldest son and then I asked him, “Do you think that I don’t know that his face is dirty or that he ignores just how dirty it is?” So my oldest son thought for a minute and said, “Well, no, you notice everything and you used to always make me wash my face when I was his age.” And I agreed with what he said, but then I said,” But son, when did you start washing your face for yourself?” He thought about it for a minute and then with a little smirk he said,” I don’t know for sure. I just remember looking in the mirror one day and realizing that my face was really dirty, so I used some soap and water and washed it. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Man, I wonder how long I’ve looked like that!’ And I remember being surprised that you hadn’t said anything, but I just figured you thought I was old enough to remember to wash my own face.”

I raised my eyebrows and then winked and said, “Exactly!” It took him a second, but then he said,” Ohhhhh, I get it now.” And then I asked my oldest son,” So, now that you are older and wiser, do you just ignore it when your face is dirty?” “Mom,” he said,” you know the answer to that.” “Yeah, I do,” I said,” and aren’t you glad you’re growing up? And guess what? So is your little brother – every single day.”

I think we all can kind of be like my youngest son sometimes, especially when it comes to our sin. (I know I can, anyways.) Although we are called to lives of purity, of cleanliness, of holiness; sometimes it’s just easier to ignore our sin, than it is to cleanse ourselves of it.

I overheard my oldest son ask my youngest son one day, “Why don’t you ever just go and wash your face?” And my youngest son just stopped for a second and took in a deep breathe and said, ”Because, it takes too long and it means I have to stop playing and I don’t really want to.” And I think we also can have that same attitude about the sin in our lives. We know that it’s there, and we know how to wash it away, but we just don’t want to, for a number of reasons: we’re having fun in our sin, it’s not convenient, we would have to give up doing something that we’re enjoying, etc. Or, even better yet, as my youngest son sometimes puts it,” But Mom, I just got comfortable, do I have to?”

I think we all can sometimes be like my oldest son too, though. I think we can be really good at seeing the dirt on someone else’s face or the sin in someone else’s life, but we completely overlook that which is on our own face or in our own lives. We can be like those that Jesus speaks about in Matthew 7:3-5, when He says, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” I think sometimes that we forget what all we have been forgiven for, all the dirt or sin that Jesus has removed from our lives, and we need to be reminded of Jesus’ command in Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Ultimately, only the blood of Jesus can cleanse and purify us, as it says in 1 John 1:7-9, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We are further cleansed and made holy “by the washing with water through the Word,” as it says in Ephesians 5:26.

So God’s Word and His Holy Spirit are like the soap and water, but we have to apply them to the dirt of our sin; that’s a choice that requires action on our part. It means we have to make the time to read our Bible and let God speak into our lives. The Word is also like a mirror, revealing to us the dirt of sin on our faces. When it does, rather than ignoring it, we must confess our sins to the Lord, apply His shed blood as our source of cleansing (by forgiving ourselves and receiving His grace), and take the necessary steps to avoid that sin in the future. This can only happen through relationship with Jesus, which is available to each of us, if we just will ask Him into our lives (please ask me if you do not know what this means). In the end, we need to check the mirror for ourselves, checking up on our own dirt of sin, and if we notice it in others, we need to simply pray for them, trusting in the transformational power of Christ, both for them and us. “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).

“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [a] ;
you teach [b] me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:1-12).