clean

Suze & I had a little conversation that I thought more about after, then during...if that makes any sense?

We were talking about what we like or appreciate clean in our house.
For Suze it was the removal of all the dust.
For me, I like having a clean toilet.

We like clean don’t we?
We like to be in a clean environment.
To visit clean places.
It just makes things ‘feel’ better...

Which got me thinking about us.
I like to feel clean.
Not just that feeling you have in the shower washing away the grime you have accumulated.
But that feeling of clean when you know you have done the things you should have.
When everything seems right in your life.

One of the key ‘themes’ to our relationship with God is that he wants us to be clean.
And the best part of it for me...is that it is more to do with what God can do in us, that what we can do.
It is a ‘grace thing’.

King David wrote some stuff in songs, and sometimes they referred to his desire to have a pure heart and clean hands.
Even back then they recognized that without all this clean stuff, that you didn’t feel quite right and that it affected their relationship to God.

Check out how this works for us now…

21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:21-23

The question is…”how clean do you feel?”
If you don’t, don’t panic!
Just simply come back to Jesus and get it sorted.
It is not complicated.
God doesn’t want it to be.
Get clean and enjoy the life that God has for you...

Something to think about…

evolved

We think we are so evolved don’t we?
We wear clothes that are way more ‘cool’ and functional then any other generation.
We have technology way more advanced then previous generations could have ever dreamed of.
And in the west we have access to resources beyond many other more desperate parts of the world.

But even with all that is going for us...we still have common struggles.
For many of us it is the relationships we have.
Family.
Friends.
Work.
Where ever this a human relationship...there always seems a chance for something to be wrong.

We get offended.
We get hurt.
Our expectations get dashed.

One of the biggest needs/desires in our heart is for love.
To feel it, to express it...to live a life enveloped in it.
We want to get along with those in our lives.

I think we get disappointed because we don’t understand what love is. We think love is all about feeling, when that is only ever a part of it.

The best example I could ever find is pretty extreme!
The Bible says that Jesus gave himself to be crucified because he loved us first.
I am convinced he wasn’t feeling all gooey towards us when he made that choice and when he went through his expression of love towards us.

Love for Jesus was expressed all in his actions.
Not on feelings and how it would impact his lifestyle.
Not on whether someone deserved to be loved or not...

There are times when you will feel all gooey, but that is not the definition of love and not the guarantee of good relationships in your life.
What I think works for us is love that is built on action, built on decision.
We get to decide to love.
It is not always some mystical thing floating in the sky!

Please choose this week to build your life and relationships on that foundation.
Love in action.
Choose to forgive.
Choose to let things go.
Choose to do the opposite of what may seem ‘logical’.
Give others the ‘benefit of the doubt’.
I know this is challenging…
It is a big call.
But you know it is the right way to go.

Doesn’t the Bible say that people will know God is real because of our love for one another?

Something to think about…