God’s Word is cleansing. Here’s how it works…

The Holy Spirit takes the revealed words of God (the Bible) and washes us from all the filthy junk that we get attracted to. Like, the addictions and the words and the thoughts and the patterns of sin and the images. The Bible scrubs us clean through replacing our sinful desires, thoughts and actions with holy and godly desires, thoughts and actions. The Holy Spirit gives us a bath through the Word.

David put it like this,

“How can a young man keep his way pure?

            By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you;

            Let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart,

            That I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:9-11)

Paul, speaking of Christ, makes it super clear in Ephesians,

“…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

In both of these passages we can clearly see the agent God uses to cleanse us – it’s His Word!

Thinking we are going to get rid of the filth in our lives without getting into the Bible is like thinking we are going to take a bath without soap and water. We need the Bible; we need its cleansing power in our lives to gain the victory over sin.

Let me add a word of warning: we can’t rely on someone else’s teaching and preaching alone to clean us, we need to get into the scrubbing power of God’s Word on our own. Now, when I was a little boy my mom would give me a bath and scrub behind my ears and in all the right places. But, I quickly outgrew that and could eventually do it on my own. Wouldn’t it be tragic for a mom to be giving her 51-year-old son a bath? It is doubly tragic for mature believers to rely on someone else to give them a spiritual bath.

So, let’s get into the Bible. Study it; fall in love with its stories and teachings and poems. The Bible is trustworthy, reliable, clear, relevant and authoritative. Let the Holy Spirit wash you with the scrubbing power of God’s Word!

Grace & Peace,