Dirty Hands, Clean Soul

We often have dinner with our friends once a week. It’s a necessary time to catch up, unwind, and share each other’s company. Their 4-year-old loves to play with our older children outside in the mud and sticks. On one visit, he came to the front door and struggled to open the door. We didn’t know why then, but as soon as he came inside, he immediately said, “Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me!” Of course, all of us, being parents, looked.

His little hands were covered in mud. He was filthy. He was trying to get to the bathroom to clean his hands without being seen. He was trying to hide the evidence. Of course, he was caught red-handed, but his father and mother weren’t upset. They cleaned him up and sent him out on his way. The next day, we laughed because we had not noticed mud on the door, the handle, pretty much everything up to the door.

Why do so many of us insist on being all cleaned up before we want a relationship with Jesus? I often hear, “I don’t need to go to church; everyone will judge me,” ~or~ “I’ll catch on fire”. Of course, my response is simple, “we don’t go to the doctors when we’re healthy but when we need help.” I never fully understood the fullness of God’s love until I looked at how perfect and unique his gift to us is until I started reading the red letters of the Bible. It’s all about Jesus and how to love one another.

Jesus didn’t go to the church leaders to show love and compassion; he went to the sinners. He went to the wicked, the tax collectors, the adulterers, the fornicators, the thieves, and the murderers. Jesus went to them AS THEY WERE. Dirty hands and souls, and he healed them of everything. They changed their entire lives by washing their soul.

Friends, it’s all about Jesus and the craziest gift that has ever been given to us—the ability to be with God forever by the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. When you think about the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, stop and remember that Jesus came down from Heaven, lived a perfect life, and died for us. He was without sin. Jesus never sinned. He rose again from the dead and is sitting on his throne in Heaven, waiting for the time that God tells him to return for those who accept the grace of his love and forgiveness.

Clean as snow, whitewashed of everything we’ve done wrong and will do wrong. As clean as freshly washed little innocent hands after playing in the mud. All we must do is believe.  Jesus is the reason we celebrate this season.  As the world appears less in control and more self centered.  Consider where you’ll be WHEN he comes back. My hope is that we all feel the love, comfort and peace that comes from God.  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.