By MEGAN SITES
Spring is here and that really only means one thing for me and my family–well, besides it being time to start taking daily allergy medicine! It is pool opening season, our favorite! We spend weeks preparing our backyard for the many pool days and parties we have each summer. Spring flies by as we tear out old plants and plant new ones, as we begin opening the pool, and this year the quest to renovate our deck and the attached gazebo has consumed most of my time.
Ya know, it is always in the most mundane and unexpected places that Jesus encounters my heart. This time I happened to be power washing the deck. Have you ever used a power washer? They are an incredible tool! I was totally mesmerized watching the years, yes years, of gunk go flying off the wood and then my mind began to wonder. Jesus is like the power washer for our soul. We come before Him darkened and worn for the things of this world, the sins we partake in, the circumstances around us, and the sins of our loved ones and He doesn’t just replace us all together and say that we are no longer of use to Him but rather He washes us clean and restores us.
I found great joy in power washing the deck. I watched all my hours of hard work pay off as what was once extremely dark and dirty became light and clean. The burden of the job vanished and my heart found joy in the reward. I can’t help but think this is exactly how Jesus must feel about us. He doesn’t see our darkness and dirtiness as a burden, but as a chance to see the reward of His great sacrifice.
All too often we are afraid to bring Jesus our gunk. We think things like, “I’ll go to Jesus when I get my stuff together,” or, “Once I stop sinning, then I will go to church.” But when this is our reaction to our darkness, we are robbing Jesus the joy of His reward. He delights in the cleansing of our souls; it is, after all, what He came, took on flesh and gave His life for.
FOR FURTHER THOUGHT Jesus used the power washer to teach me about the joy He takes when I turn from my sin and shame and come running back to Him to be washed clean. What issues in your life feel too dirty to take to Jesus? What would it look like to run toward Jesus in those moments instead away from Him? What do you imagine Him saying to you as you approach Him with your gunk? I think He would greet you with a huge smile on His face and His arms open wide. He would simply say, “Finally!” For a richer understanding of how God feels when we come home to him, read Luke 15:11-24.
PRAYER Jesus, I am so thankful for the way You love me and for the way You choose me even in my own darkness. Thank You for desiring my heart so much that Your greatest sacrifice led way to Your greatest reward. Help my heart remember this when it feels as though I am drowning in my own sin and shame this side of heaven. Cause my heart to continue to run towards You with the burdens of this life and my own sin rather than running away from You. You are ever deserving of everything that I have and all that I am. It is in Your sweet, precious name I pray, Amen.
Megan Sites
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