Filthy Water, Clean Water

In addition to my janitorial job at our church, this school year I have also taken up a janitorial-type job at the university cafeteria.

It is really quite fun. I get to wash tables, straighten chairs, and vacuum about half of the dining hall (which is quite big; about 12 table rows down and 3 across.) Everyone at the cafe is really nice to me. My partner Mark, who helps me, is really really nice too.

One of the first things I do when I start work at the cafe is fill a bucket with some water, sanitizer, and soap, which helps the tables get clean better. When I fill my bucket I have nice, bright, shiny, see-through, clean water. Then I grab a rag, and head on into the dining hall.

The funny thing is, by the time I am done washing all of my tables, I would not want to use that water for anything.
One, the water is dark and murky. Unrecognizable food chunks hang steathfully in the water. And I just would not want to clean with that water!

What happened to that water? I certainly did not exchange it for filthy water! What happens is that I wipe big food chunks into the water...and also there are food bits on the rag. When the rag gets dumped into the bucket, some of the food ends up staying in the bucket...and contributing to the ugly color.

Recently I was working at the cafe and contemplating this change. Then the thought hit me, "We're just like this water bucket!" In a spiritual sense, we start out clean, like the bright, see-through clean water. But then the food chunks come--also known as sin. Sin clutters us up--makes us look filthy.

The only thing we can do is to come to Jesus, food chunks and all. We can't do anything about our situation, but Jesus can! He is more than happy to make us clean again. And that's what He does!
If we let Him, he will dump out the filthy water, rinse us out, and fill us with shiny, bright, see-through water again. But more often than not, we sin and get filthy again--then we need to come to Jesus again and ask for another rinsing.

How does this work? In our filthy, sin-ridden condition, we confess our sins to God and ask Him to forgive us. We tell Him that we are sorry for what we have done and want to start over, start new and clean again. Then He will dump our sins out, and not even remember them anymore!

Psalms 103:11, 12, NIV:

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Psalms 51:7, NIV:

"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

He will rinse us out, and fill us with his clean water again.

Do you have filthy water? Do you need a rinsing, a cleansing from sin? Then ask Jesus, the Great Cleanser, to do just that for you!