Not so long ago I got this idea that I “needed” to pressure wash my drive way after I noticed some really large stains. I had never used a pressure washer before so I figured how hard could it be? Luckily I was able to borrow some friends’ pressure washer who gave me very specific instructions on how to operate the thing. (Like make sure the water is on before you start it or you will burn up the motor….and don’t wear sandals if you like your feet with skin on them!) Even with the directions, I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. So I started on the first big stain, but as the stain disappeared it became obvious that the entire driveway needed to be cleaned. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into!!! I quickly realized this task would require more time and hard work than I had expected.
When you read the Gospels, you hear Jesus say things like, “The Kingdom of God is like….” And then He goes on to give an example using common tasks or things the people were already familiar with. I’ve learned that Jesus speaks to people today the same way using things we can understand. If Jesus were walking past my house with his disciples that day while I was pressure washing the driveway, he might have started his parable like this: “A young lady went out to pressure wash her driveway. She set out to clean up only the large stains because she didn’t realize the entire driveway needed to be cleaned.” Tell me Lord, what does this mean? And Jesus said, “The heart of a man is like this driveway. It’s the very pathway into the inner most part of a man. Just as the driveway is a hardened concrete fashioned by man, so has man’s heart become hardened with trying times and harsh conditions. The stained areas are the more obvious problem areas as a result of sin that left a mark. I tell you, it’s not just the stained areas that must be cleaned, but the whole driveway must be cleaned.”
I set out to baptize (which means to purify/cleanse) my driveway of its stains with 3200 psi only to find out that it was covered in one huge stain. The truth is, we are all stained at birth, and then we spend many years accumulating so much more. When we decide to follow Jesus we become very aware of those things in our lives that we have to get rid of, the obvious things, the big stains. We don’t realize just how dirty we really are until we begin to see what clean looks like. In Mark 7:20-23 Jesus said, "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.”
King David was a man after God’s heart and yet he knew what it was like to need the pressure washer applied to his life. In Psalm 51:1-3, 7, 9-10 he cried out to God, “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. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 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.”
Praise God that when the Word commands us to be baptized, there is no actual pressure washer involved! In fact when we get baptized, we don’t come out of the water with any less sin or stains then we go in with. But we when take this step of faith in obedience to Jesus, it’s as if we are baptized with 3200 psi. There is no stain big enough, and no amount of dirt in our lives that He can’t remove! Isaiah 1:18 says, ‘"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Now I must give a word of caution when using the pressure washer! Remember that even though you have been made white as snow by the King, that does not mean you should drive through the neighborhood looking at all of the neighbor’s driveways and pointing out how dirty and stained they are nor should you find yourself pressure washing their “driveway” so to speak! Instead we are called to be like Christ and let our light shine before men that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven (Matt 5:16) and teaching them to be use the “pressure washer” so they too may be cleansed by the washing of water through the word (Ephesians 5:26).
Pressure washed daily,
Mandy
June 16, 2007/Oct 25, 2009
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