Back during the summer my best friend and I came up with an awesome idea, what if we started a non-profit cleaning business that helped the elderly and disabled and witnessed for the Lord at the same time. We had thought of the name ‘Clean 4 Christ,’ catchy isn’t it? Well unfortunately that never got off the ground because of technical difficulties and money we didn’t have, sad isn’t it a non-profit organization that has to pay an arm and a leg just to help someone. I started to think about the name and I realized that it not only touches on the literal clean, but also the cleanliness of our spiritual life.
In the Old Testament most of their laws centered on the concept of cleanliness, whether it was certain foods they could or couldn’t eat, pagan practices concerning sacrifices, clothing, diseases, relationships, etc. You name it God covered it, He wanted to be sure that His people were not only pure on the outside but also on the inside, and this concern for cleanliness is what set God’s people apart in a corrupt world. This still rings true today.
The thing that causes us to become unclean is sin. The Old Testament saints had to offer sacrifices in order to atone for their sins and become clean, but even then they never attained true cleanliness. When Christ offered Himself on the cross He provided blood atonement for our sins. Now we attain cleanliness by simply praying with a humble and contrite heart and asking God for forgiveness and He casts our sins as far as the east is from the west never to be remembered (Psalm 103:12). Because we are in this fleshly body we will always sin, so we should pray without ceasing always asking for forgiveness (1 Thess. 5:17).
So when you think about being hygienic on the outside let’s not forget the most important part our souls. Let’s be completely ‘Clean 4 Christ!’
Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness--- John Wesley (1703-91)
