Washed and ready
…how much more will the blood of Jesus wash our consciences clean from dead works in order to serve the living God?
Hebrews 9:14 (CEB)
When we start to see autumn foggy days, I am reminded of my childhood in our home town of Ely. From our dining room we could see the great mass of the cathedral’s West Tower, which at 218 feet rises above the houses in the road, about a 10-minute walk away. Sometimes you could see the outline of people who had puffed their way up 300 steps to the top, and at certain times in the year there’d be a flag on the mast, waving in the wind.
But when one of the dense fenland fogs rolled in, the cathedral disappeared from view. Where had it gone? I can’t remember how old I was when I asked that question, but hopefully I was very young. The answer became a bit of a standard family joke when the fog rolled in: ‘Oh, look! They’ve taken away the cathedral to be washed.’ It always came back. But when the fog lifted, and the cathedral tower ‘came back’ it didn’t look any different from before it went for its bath.
Unlike the cathedral that has stood for centuries without changing, we do change. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, acknowledged that ‘outwardly we are wasting away’; I think we can put our hands up to that. Our ‘exterior stonework’ may be crumbling a bit. However, he adds: ‘…yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ (2 Corinthians 4:16 NIVUK). That’s what counts.
And we don’t need to be taken anywhere for an imaginary cleaning. We have been washed by the blood of Jesus and that has opened up the way to an intimate, lifelong relationship with God. It doesn’t stop there – day by day we are being renewed by the power of God and growing into a measure of the stature of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:13).
That’s encouraging. We have not been given a cursory wash and brush up – it’s a life-changing cleansing that has led us to be free from serving ourselves to serve the living God. What a privilege. We don’t often wake up in the morning and say: ‘Yippee – I’m clean and free to serve today.’ But that’s reality and something for which we can give thanks and then ask: ‘How am I going to serve today?’
Prayer
Our Father, our thanks come up to you that we, cleansed from our sins by Christ, continue to be transformed by the renewal of our minds and can serve you, our living God. Amen.
|
Study by: Hilary Buck About the author: |
 |
Local congregation:
Grace Communion in Lewes
The House of Friendship
208 High Street
Lewes
BN7 2NS
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:00 am
Local congregational contact:
Hilary Buck
Email: lewes@gracecom.church
Like us on www.facebook.com/Grace Communion Lewes
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church