Stay Clean
By Kurt Bomar
Avery County
One of the greatest Kings of Israel was Hezekiah. When he came to power the country was in shambles. His father, Ahaz, had allowed the country to be defeated militarily, economically, and spiritually. He even sacrificed his own small children by fire, to the false god, Molech. Hezekiah, however, had the heart of David, totally devoted to the Lord. His first job was to clean up the Temple, which had been polluted.
2 Chron. 29:4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5 and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. 6 Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him.
It seems this need for a cleansing process repeats itself not only in history, but we see examples of it in the animal kingdom.
Rats and mice, even though we think of them as dirty, spend most of their waking hours grooming themselves and are surprisingly clean. If you watch your household cat or dog, you will see that they too spend a lot of time just staying clean. The gecko lizards in the desert in the SW part of our country are interesting because they don’t have eyelids (despite the GEICO commercials). Yet they live in a place with lots of dirt and sand. So how do they stay clean? God gave them a really long tongue which they actually use to clean their eyes.
So, what can we learn from the animals? We too should have an innate desire to be clean.
Yet when it comes to the heart of man, we allow corruption and pollution to affect us internally (much like the Temple above). Therefore, our cleansing needs to be carried out daily. How? If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
How often should we do this? Just think of your cat and do it every day. We can’t avoid the pollution of this world that sticks to us daily. But we can still stay clean by daily (or even moment by moment when prompted by the Holy Spirit) confessing our sins before the Lord. Think of it as that nice feeling you get after taking a refreshing cool shower after a hot sticky August day.
He’s waiting to hear from you.
Selah, (think about it)
Pastor Kurt Bomar, Walnut Grove Church
walnutgrovechurchnc.org
Come join us Sundays at 11:00
(Inspired by a devotional Footsteps of the Flock, Jon Courson p. 208)
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Kurt Bomar is the pastor of Walnut Grove Church.
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