Doing the Dishes
"I weep at the beauty of a life given freely to God".
This thought popped into my mind as I was standing at my kitchen sink, washing the dishes. A simple task that I have performed countless times. The dishes get used each day; they become dirty; I wash them clean. This is ongoing. The dishes don't become clean by themselves; I am the agent through whom they are washed, ready to be used once again.
And it came to me that my life in Christ is like those dishes. I am the dirty dish; He is the One who is the agent through whom they are washed clean.
Washed Clean
My poor thoughts, choices and decisions every day see me become used and dirty. My desire and choice to be cleaned up every day by such things as reading Scripture, repentance and prayer see me ready to be used once again by the Lord Jesus. This small life of mine runs parallel to the magnificent life of His and His purpose of being used in order that the relationship between humankind and God be permanently restored. As He hung on that Cross, the sacrifice of Jesus washed every sinner clean of their filthy sin. Their scarlet sin became white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).
Each and every day I am washed clean with the sacrifice of my Lord Jesus Christ - He who took away the sins of the world so as to be in relationship forever with His children.
Inhabiting Every Detail of My Life
Now that I live in Him, I want Him to inhabit every action and every detail and every choice of my life. As we find in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
I reach out to Him in faith through my prayer, through renewing my mind in Him, through wanting to know Him and through wanting to align myself with His will.
I do not deserve His precious gift but freely He gave it. So, just as He freely gave His life, it should be both my responsibility and my joy to give mine.
"I weep at the beauty of a life given freely to God."
Joyful Weeping
The weeping at beauty is not weeping that is sorrowful. Rather, it is weeping that is joyful. The weeping is at a beauty that is so humbling, so profound and so simple - all at once - that I just barely catch a glimpse of the depth of its magnitude before it is gone. Is it the beauty that will engulf me on the day He takes me home? Is it the beauty that comes from the knowledge that there is nothing else in life but Him and nothing else in life that comes close to serving Him? Is it the beauty that comes from the suffering of one who has been set free in a loving Creator? It is all this and more. It is simply Him. It is Jesus. And the joy that is found only in Him. And I barely scratch the surface when trying to express the joy that comes from the beauty of Who He is and what He has done in my life.
Each day I want to know Jesus more. This is a quest that will not end until the day He calls me Home. I so want to honour Him and hear Him say "Well done good and faithful servant" (as in Matthew 25:23). Yet, I fall miserably short on many occasions. All too often, I do not trust Him with all the details of my life. I put myself on the throne instead of Him. I do this by worrying about what is going to happen or about what has already happened. I minimise His magnificence and His ability to take care of me. But that seems not to matter to Him, my loving Creator. What seems to matter is that I recommit to keeping close to Him, that more and more I turn to Him first in the midst of my failings and shortcomings, allowing Him to lift me up in His embrace and fill me with His unconditional love. Allowing Him to do this. Allowing Him to be the Lord of my life. Allowing Him. My choice. My free will.
He Is The Good Shepherd
I am the one who every day is dirtied by my choices which take me away from my Jesus and He is the One who, every day, washes me clean with the sacrifice He has made for me. And Who, every day when I allow Him, brings me back to Him. Because He is the good Shepherd and He gives His life for His sheep (as in John 10:11).
I do not know what it cost my Saviour to die for me. But I do know what He bought. He bought my freedom. My eternal freedom.
"I weep at the beauty of a life given freely to God".
What is the beauty of your life given freely to God? Please do share any thoughts on this that you may have.
God bless you!
Numbers 6:24 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."
Isaiah 61:3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Psalm 52:1 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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