"We shall individually be held responsible for doing one jot less than we have ability to do...But when we give ourselves wholly to God, and in our work follow His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. Not once should we even think of failure. We are to cooperate with One who knows no failure." ~Messages to Young People, p. 309

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Dishes

One of the great opportunities I've had this summer is to work in a local deli, washing dishes. While some may find this to be a boring or distasteful job, I find it to be quite the opposite. First of all, the job itself is very easy. People bring me their dirty dishes, and I scrub, dunk, and rinse the dishes through the various sinks till they're clean! Second, my co-workers are very funny and all around awesome. It's really a joy to work there!

As I've spent quite a lot of time thinking as I wash the dishes, I've realized how similar our spiritual lives are to dish washing  Let me explain.

There are two types of dishes that I wash at the deli. Some dishes are very easy to rinse off and wash; a short squirt of water and they're ready to be run through the sinks. The other kind of dish is harder to wash. This kind comes to me with much food baked and stuck on, and this kind takes much attention to get it clean. I'll spray it, but I must also fill this dish with water and let it soak for a while. After I wash several more dishes, I come back to this stubborn dish. I scrub it hard with my brushes until all the stuck-on food is off, and I can run it through with the other dishes.

In my analogy, we are the dirty dishes coming to God for cleansing. Sometimes, I feel like I'm a dish that has much nasty food stuck on, one which needs to soak and takes a long time to get clean!

God, the Great Dishwasher, has a loooooooooooooot more patience than I do. He's ready and willing to take you in, clean you up, and make you feel better. Read Psalms 51:7--

"wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

Sometimes God's dishwashing process may not be the most happy thing. He may squirt us with the hot water of trials, or let us sit and soak for a while. Then God may scrub away the defaults in our character, so we can serve him better. It may hurt, we may not understand why God is doing something--but remember, if we could see the end from the beginning, we would have it no other way. God is transforming us from the dirty, sinful human beings that we are into his glorious masterpieces.

Otherwise known as clean dishes.

What about you? Are you willing to be cleaned by God?
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