My soul clings to you,Your right hand upholds me.
Washing with the Word/Sanctification
Ephesians 5:25-27
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
It can be frustrating, not having obtained perfection, to still fail and let God down. Our walk on this earth is not one of perfection, but of being perfected -sanctification. When we become saved, God doesn’t take a huge fire hose and blast us with water to get rid of all the dirt. No, instead He comes close and gently washes us with the word. I don’t understand why God does this, why we aren’t made perfect. I hate the fact that I still sin. But I do know that this is romance, and somehow in all this, the romantic, gentle, loving character of God comes through. So in this walk where I am not perfect there is beauty and intimacy; and I am falling more in love with my Beloved, who washes me with His word.
You see it is Christ who washes us, who sanctifies us, who is the perfecter of our faith. We don’t wash ourselves. When Peter refused this, Jesus said, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” And note here how gentle and romantic this is. Not only does he wash us (a very romantic picture), but He washes us with His word. I think of my wife (if it is the Lord’s will) and how much she will desire me to speak gently to her and how deeply that will touch her heart. This passage is extremely intense and romantic. And that is what Christ does for us. He touches the deepest parts of our hearts in a way no one else can.
“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.” – C.S. Lewis
Isaiah 61:10-11
“10I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,
So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
To spring up before all the nations. “
Jesus is a good Shepherd. Do you trust him in your struggles, failures, hurt, in the valley of the shadow of Death?
Do you believe that He is a God who is with us in the realities of life and in the darkest parts of this world?
Additional readings: Ephesians 3:14-20; Romans 8:28-39; Reading – Our Security in Him
