When I was a young boy we did not have a inside bathroom which also meant we did not have a bathtub or shower in the house. It was the normal routine to just wash up at night before going to bed. Needless to say we were not always as clean as we should have been. To take a bath in a tub of water was a huge task in the wintertime. Mom would heat water in pots on top of an old wood burning stove to fill a galvanized washtub, that was brought in to the living room and set near that same stove. Then when there was enough hot water added to the cold water to get it warm we would that a bath, girls first. Not a very good way to really get clean.
But was the weather got warmer we were able to take a better bath outside in the heat of the sun and with clean water warmed by the sun. We would even get out side on a hot summer day in the rain and take a real shower, hoping that it would not stop raining before we got rinsed off.
Starting Sunday we are hosting a series of meetings we call a Revival. It is called revival because it is a time each year that we as God’s people put forth the effort to get refreshed and cleaned up. Much like my childhood days and winter “wash ups” many time we let the little dirty sins just go untouched. But not only do they pileup on us, they began to cause us to start to stink. Next week we must we must have the same drive and purpose to get our own self clean before the Lord.
The only way that we can truly be cleaned is by washing in the Word of God.
Ephesians 5: 25b ..as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Titus 3: 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
(not me in picture, stock photo)