MBC Tysons Campus Blog

Have you ever felt dirty?

My grandkids think the “Dirty Jobs” TV show is quite entertaining. Growing up in my father’s mobile home park, I had some pretty dirty jobs of my own, which I did not find entertaining, like cleaning out clogged sewer lines. Turning the steel snake by hand, I would push and pull to make it go deeper into an unseen abyss, attempting to clear out clumps of unnamed stuff. Another job was trash pickup. Back then, a perfect storm was a blazing hot Florida sun decomposing the contents of rusted-out metal trashcans for three days before trash pickup. Swinging the trashcans up over my head to dump the contents into the trash trailer often resulted in foul smelling liquids pouring on to my head and arms.

But, for a teenager, all it took was a blast of water from the hose, or a dash into the Gulf of Mexico! Clean again. Dirt washed away. No more stink. Life was good.

Have you ever felt dirty on the inside?

Who hasn’t? Lady Macbeth, tormented by just the thought of the bloodstain of the murdered King Duncan on her garment, cursed, demanding it to get “Out!  Out!”  Have you ever wished you could start some scenes over or, better yet, rewrite the play from the beginning? But, you can’t. So, what do you do now with the dirt and the bondage it represents?

First, remember that sin doesn’t make God love you less and obedience doesn’t make God love you more.

God has always said that his relationship with people was based on only one thing:  his love. He supremely expressed that love in the death of Jesus for your sins. When you believed in Jesus – because of God’s grace and mercy – at that very moment, you became part of his eternal love. You could say that’s the divine version of the black hole of the universe, once you’re in, you never come out.

Next, clean away the dirt to have fellowship with God.

Can it be that I can sin now, confess the next minute and be cleansed? Yes.  (I John 1:9) Don’t cover up, ‘fess up to the Lord. Confession is the door to freedom, so talk to God with heart-felt sorrow and a deep commitment to be clean in the future. Does it sound too easy to be clean? It is outrageously true, just like believing in Jesus gives you eternal life. Just like that.

Lastly, follow a three-premise syllogism for coming clean and being free.

Clean hands (Psalm 24:4)
+ A pure heart (Psalm 24:4)
+ A clear conscience (Acts 24:16)
= A free spirit (Galatians 5:1)

Talk to God about what you need to do for each premise. Get help from others who have wisdom. Bottom line: momentary pleasure of wrongdoing, thinking or feeling is not worth the price of feeling dirty and being in bondage. To live clean is to be free.

Lady Macbeth, to her dismay, discovered that wrongful pleasure does not result in peace, and certainly has no joy.

“Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content;
‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.”