Victorious Unfolding

Who perceives his unintentional sins?

Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

Moreover, keep Your servant from willful sins;

do not let them rule over me.

Then I will be innocent

and cleansed from blatant rebellion.

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to You,

LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

 (Psalm 19:12-14 [HCSB])

We've heard and/or read verse fourteen before today. We need to put it into perspective with verses twelve and thirteen. Today, let’s consider these verses together and understand what God wants to teach us.

Remember when you were a teenage or a pre-teen. You had more freedom, but you tested the boundaries to see how much power you had at home and school. One day, you decided to stay at school “to be with your friends” and arrived home later than your parents wanted. On another day, a friend needed help to understand what the teacher taught in class. You stayed at school to help him understand, then lost track of time. This good deed made you later getting home than your parents wanted. Which of these is a blatant sin and which an unintentional sin? Are the repercussions for the late home arrival going to be the same? Probably not, but why?

¹² Who perceives his unintentional sins?

Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

Verse twelve speaks about unintentional sins (accidents, mistakes, errors), not rebellious disobedience. The Psalmist said we do not know our unintentional sins. Often, after the result of our mistake occurs, we realize we sinned. One reason we may have sinned is we didn't realize God speaks against those types of things. Another possibility is we didn't realize the words from our mouth contained unintended harshness. These sins were unintentional and, possibly, unknown to us until God told us in our time with Him. Sometimes God makes us aware of these mistakes and accidents as we read our Bible. Other times, He will make us aware of them as we listen to a sermon or as we pray. Perhaps He will teach about them through a devotional. The important point is that, once shown, we acknowledge them, ask forgiveness from God, then ask for strength to live God’s way so that sin doesn’t happen again. (Note: Since we from that point know that action, word, or thought is a sin, no longer can we say the sin is unintentional.)

¹³ Moreover, keep Your servant from willful sins;

do not let them rule over me.

Then I will be innocent

and cleansed from blatant rebellion.

Verse thirteen speaks of another set of actions, thoughts, and words. These are willful sins. Willful sins are the deliberate breaking of a law, command, or precept. If you have children or remember being a child, you remember a child often tests or pushes the boundaries to see if he or she can get away with something. He or she will check to see how firm the boundary is. These actions, thoughts are words are willful sins. Willful sins fall in the list of moral laws concerned with things like killing, stealing, lying, etc. God explicitly commands in the Ten Commandments, do not kill, do not steal, and do not bear false witness along with several other commands. Another sin that falls into this willful sin category is letting your neighbor starve when you have food in your home. Jesus taught about loving your neighbor as you love yourself in Matthew 22:37-40. Willful sins are rebellion against the moral laws, commands, and precepts of God.

For both types of sin, unintentional and willful, the Psalmist, once made aware of them, imperatively requested God to cleanse him from them and not let them rule/reign over him. The Psalmist recognized he had no power to cleanse himself from sin or to keep himself from sinning. He was powerless. The Psalmist recognized God's holiness and ability to make a person holy. He recognized God’s ability to guide a person's mind, thoughts, and actions. God can do these things because He is omnipotent (all-powerful) and Ruler of all created things, since He is Yahweh God, the One before time and beyond time.

¹⁴ May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to You,

LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

With God's cleansing of and rule over him, the Psalmist declared God made him clean/righteous. Being cleansed from sin and made righteous makes a person’s words, thoughts, and meditations acceptable to God. When God cleanses a person and reigns over him or her, the person can be in His presence and raise his or her thoughts, words, and meditations to Him in praise and worship. Only God’s cleansing makes a person clean and able to be in His presence. The Psalmist declared, "Oh Lord, You are my Rock and my Redeemer!" when he realized his cleansing and ability to lead a righteous life came from God.

With God’s rule and strength, He keeps us strong against temptations to sin. He is the One who saves and cleanses us from sin. Because of these, our reaction is to praise and worship Him.

Revisiting your pre-teen self, did you unknowingly break a family rule and experience your parents teaching you why that was not a good thing to do? Probably, they still continued to love, lead, and provide for you. On the other side of the coin, did you intentionally disobey your parents? Did they discipline you? Did your parents continue to love, lead, and provide for you after that? If your answer is yes to each of these, your parents were modeling their parenting after God’s example. If you have read through the Bible, you will encounter examples of when God did not protect or provide for His children, the Israelites, immediately. They had disobeyed Him too many times and needed a stricter discipline. For most of us, having our parents discipline us about a broken rule is all we need to correct our behavior or mistake.

Are you listening to God today?

Today, God is speaking to you. Are you listening to Him? What is He saying to you? God wants to have a love relationship with you. Will you listen as He tells you about your sins? Will you confess your sins to God and ask Him to cleanse you? Will you allow Him to reign in your life as King?

True peace comes with God’s forgiveness and reign in your life.

We each try to delay, block, or deny hearing God when He tells us about our misdeeds, and incorrect words and thoughts. We don't want to face them or Him. Perhaps we refuse to change our lives. Still, what He said won't leave our minds, hearts, and spirits. For peace, I urge you to turn to God in prayer now. Ask Him to make you strong enough to admit your sins and repent. Ask Him to be your Savior and cleanse you. Allow God to reign as King of your life. Experience the growth of your character and your relationship with God as a victorious unfolding.

Your life can be a victorious unfolding with God.

Lord, today, You have shown me a sin, many sins, if I am honest, and I want You to cleanse me from them, please. I have refused to recognize You in the past, but now I give up ruling my life. I give my life to You, Lord. Please take my life and make it what You want and use it for Your purposes. Please, Lord, keep me from being rebellious and hard of heart. Remind me when I stray in that direction, that You are God, and I am not. I am Your's, Lord. You reign supreme. Your love and power never fail. Thank you for cleansing me from my sins and being King over my life. Thank you, Father. Amen.

Bursting Bubbles

Bubbles-innocuous, light, breezy, and safe;

No harm from bubbles, just gladness and glee.

Yet, when we consider life’s encounters again,

We know bubbles, safe bubbles, leave a film few can see.

Intentions run high and emotions explode;

Feelings burst forth with harsh actions and words.

Like bubbles need air to gain release from soap,

So, emotions need intentions to cause one to hurt.

Emotions burst forth with expelling of air,

With action they cause harm to a person unaware.

Intentions inflate emotions aimed to cause harm;

They touch upon the person near like a storm.

Yes, bubbles are soft, light, and breezy we see,

But when touched, their pop leaves a sticky ring.

It remains until washed, a reminder of fun,

But sticky, emotion-bubbles, we don’t want that sting.

Those emotion-bubbles, unsought and avoided

Leave a film of pain on the body, heart, and mind.

What should have been fun, a relationship of trust,

Turned into emotions bursting sore and maligned.

Fear, pain, distrust, questions arise with each breath.

Heart broken, now unknowing, what else is there?

Lingering onward and uncertainty rising,

Will emotions erupt, bursting, showing no care?

Fear takes over, heartbeat quickens wond’ring

Where’s the love and do I risk myself daring?

Bubbles-light, airy, free, and endless fun

Unless bubbles spring from emotions unbound.

Still, like all bubbles, their film can be washed off.

With water, the film from the wound is expunged.

For emotion-bubbles, the water comes from eternal springs;

It brings with it cleansing from pain, fear, and grief.

The Washer is from Whom all life gets its being

And by Whom film-pain from sin is removed, is cleaned.

The waters for cleansing flow from His mercy seat;

Flowing endless, downward for all in great need.

These waters, offered in love, flow pure and free

As a gift of His compassion, love, and mercy.

God’s waters bring life, health, and healing;

They bring together the hearts for Him who seek.

By His waters, lives, hearts, are joined richly together

Protecting, encouraging, and richly nurt'ring.

From water, bubbles are made with intent of people,

Adding breath and intention to form floating air-balls.

From water comes healing, health, and connection,

A mercy from the Father Who created us all.

Consider anew each bubble you create;

Will it float light, breezy, playful, and safe?

Or will you form your emotion-bubble

And cause darkness, fear, heartbreak, and pain?

God wants each relationship to blossom and thrive,

So, He sends His eternal waters to wash sins away.

Redemption, cleansing, new and abundant life

Comes from accepting His grace and by Him being saved.

 “The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10 [NASB])

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming form the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2 [NASB])

Restoration

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.” [NASB]

When we think of the word restoration, we think of an old house being renovated to look as good as it did when it was first built. Restoration does the same thing for people, too. It’s a sweeping of cobwebs (old sins and baggage) out of the corners of our lives and hearts and making way for the glory of the Lord to inhabit us and make us new.

Before getting to the point of being restored, we must recognize we do wrong things. We sin against ourselves, other people, and God. When we repent and return to God, we renew a right relationship with Him.

Still, sometimes we feel weighed down by grief, by regret, by sadness, and by embarrassment. These feelings can teach us and strengthen us against temptation. They can humble us to realize we are no better than any other person. But, when we continue to live through these feelings, we should wonder have we accepted God's forgiveness, or have we allowed Satan to continue to torment us because of that sin?

Jesus' sacrifice was perfect and continues to be perfect for cleansing from sin, unlike the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. His one-time sacrifice cleansed us from all our sins for all time. Jesus’ sacrifice cleansed us not just from the stain of sin, but the weight of sins, too. The blood of animals cannot remove the weight of sin; why else did Old Testament people continually offer animal sacrifices morning and night? Consider what the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 9:13-14.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? [NASB]

Once we accept Jesus' redeeming sacrifice for our sins, the sacrifice that saves us from the judgment that would condemn us because of our sins, we are not just clean from the stain of sin; God cleanses our conscience, too. That means the guilt of those sins does not weigh us down. Then, like David, we can have restored joy because of God’s salvation (Psalm 51:12). 

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.” [NASB]
 

We are like the old house being made like new. Its restoration brings joy and excitement to the people who own the house and brings wonder to the people who watch the process. Our being made clean and new, our restoration, by God will fill us with joy, wonder, and excitement because of the salvation we have received. We need only accept within our heart, mind, and spirit God’s forgiveness of our sins to experience complete joy. We can have this assurance of God’s favor that will bring us joy by letting go of the guilt and accepting that God has forgiven us. 

Don't let Satan continue to taunt you with your faults and sins.

Acknowledge God's forgiveness.

Experience again the joy of His salvation.

Lord, I sin. I will be completely upfront about it. Sometimes I still feel guilty and I live my life in a dark haze. I just don’t seem to be able to shake the shame and guilt I feel because of my sins. Lord, help me repent of my sins and receive Your forgiveness. Restore in me the joy of Your salvation. Help me live as Your redeemed child so that others will notice what You have done in me and will ask why I am so joyful. Use me for Your glory and Your purpose, Lord. You are great and merciful. You alone are worthy of all praise and honor. Thank you for Your forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Amen.

Cleansed Conscience

I remember the first time I came across Hebrews 10:2. I had been a Christian for just a little while and understood Jesus died my sin penalty because of His love for me so I could live with Him in heaven. I remember how excited I was about being a Christian, to be able to live forever in heaven with the One who loves me. What joy this gives to a child’s heart! What joy it should give to everyone who believes in Jesus. I thought life just couldn’t get any better than that.

And yet, I remembered things I had done wrong. You know what mischief a child can get into–lying, disobeying, swearing. The child thinks these are not big things. I won’t have to go to jail for these so why not do them, everyone else does? Still, after I gave my life to Christ, I felt pangs of conscience. I felt remorse and fear. What, over lying and swearing? Yes, because God instills in us a conscience when He creates us. That conscience is the moral code from God Himself about what is right and wrong. Whether we want to admit it, even these little things are sins. Why? Because they were disobedience and disrespect to God and my parents. Remember those commandments in the Ten Commandments?

So, one day not long after becoming a Christian, I read Hebrews 10:1-2. It says,

“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?”

Now, two things can happen when one reads this passage. The first response to this reality is, “Hallelujah!” When a person fully repents of all his or her sins, God removes the guilt of those sins from His judgment book because Jesus paid the price. He removed the burden of guilt from the person’s conscience, too. That means it no longer holds a sting from the sin, the sting of guilt. You realize by now the possible other reaction from reading this passage. The second possible reaction to reading this verse is surprise and then repentance. When a person sins before or after becoming a Christian, he or she must repent of each sin to receive forgiveness and cleansing of heart, mind, and soul. That is the cleansing from the stain and guilt of sin. This is of what Hebrews 10:2 speaks. The worshiper, once he or she received God’s forgiveness and cleansing, no longer has consciousness of sin. The guilt of that sin in the conscience does not linger and cause further pain like a sliver Satan might put under your fingernail to remind you constantly of how sinful you are. That power of the sin to cause guilt is gone. Jesus paid it all, and that covers the stain and guilt/consciousness of sin.

Before the writer of Hebrews arrived at this point in his teaching, he spent chapter 9 leading to it. Let me briefly outline for you what he taught before and after Hebrews 10:2 about conscience and consciousness of sin.

With Hebrews 9:9, the writer of Hebrews said the gifts/offerings and sacrifices established as rites of worship by God under the first covenant cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper. That means it cannot make a person perfect, totally clean. This means he or she cannot be in the presence of the Lord eternally.

Later, in verse 14, the writer said the blood of Christ offered to God without blemish through the eternal Spirit purifies our conscience from dead works.  Now, that’s a big jump to make. Why is Jesus’ sacrifice better than those set up by God with the first covenant? The writer explains this in verses 11 and 12. He said, Christ came as a high priest of the good things, those things that originate with God, and He entered the holy places, those not made with human hands, once for all by His own blood, not that of animals. By doing so, He secured eternal redemption from slavery to sin for everyone. That’s a lot to take in, so go read it for yourself. Since Jesus did this, He is the Mediator of a new covenant for those who answer God’s call and receive the promised eternal life. Anyone who answers this call of God gets eternal life because Jesus’ death redeemed them from transgressions committed under the first covenant. The writer of Hebrews spends the next thirteen verses explaining this to us, his readers. He tells of three things Jesus did.

·       He has entered heaven to appear in the presence of God on our behalf    (vs 9:24). This is a past tense action. He never has to do this again    because Jesus died once for all.

·       Jesus appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (vs. 9:26). This is also a past action with a future assurance.

·       Jesus will appear a second time to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him (vs. 9:28). This is a future action.

The next point the writer of Hebrews made about consciousness of sin comes in the first verses I mentioned above, in 10:1-2. He said, the law, which is just a shadow of the good things that come from God, can never clean consciences of sin. If they could, there would be no need for continual offerings every year as established in the rites of worship God gave the Israelites in the first covenant. The writer went onto say these yearly sacrifices remind the people of their sins, instead of removing them from their consciences. He said Christ came to do the will of God (vs7). Jesus did away with the first covenant to establish the second covenant. Through the offering of the body of Christ, we receive sanctification once for all (vs. 9-10). With Jesus’ single sacrificial offering, He perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (vs. 14). God says, “I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more (vs 17).

Listen carefully to what the writer of Hebrews says in the next six verses. Since we have this confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, what are we to do? Being cleansed isn’t just a receiving transaction. Covenanting is a two-way promise, a bond. The writers said next, with your hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and your bodies washed with pure water (vs. 22), you must do three things.

·       Draw near with a true heart in full assurance of your faith (vs 22). This is for you now and in the future. It is a present action with a future benefit. Note it is not just present tense, but present continuous. Draw near and keep drawing near. This command benefits you.

·       Hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering because He who promised is faithful (vs. 23). Once again this is a present continuous verb that carries on into your future. Hold and keep holding fast. This command benefits you.

·       Consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another (vs 24). Notice this command benefits you and other believers as you congregate together to worship, pray, and fellowship. It is a command that holds a communal aspect. Recognize this command also is present continuous. Consider and keep on considering how to stir up one another to love and good works.

These commands are not just things on your to-do list you get to cross off once you’ve done them. They are to stay on your daily list. Why? Because God calls you to relationship with Him because of His love. His love showed itself with the ultimate sacrifice of His Only Son, Jesus, for your sin penalty so you could be with Him in an eternal relationship. Your love for God will show in your obedience of His commands and laws. Your obedience to His commands and laws will show itself in love to other people. The three commands at the end of Hebrews 10 are an extension of loving God and people. You will do these because you are growing in relationship with God.

Now, to get back to Hebrews 10:1-2. When I first saw this passage, I received such vast relief. The burden of the guilt of sin I had carried, I realized, was for the first time off my back. Still, I realized I had not repented of all my sins and I had sinned since I became a Christian. I wanted the cleansing from the stain of my sins and the guilt of my sins. Jesus’ is the way to have that. No other way exists to remove the consciousness of sin. Only through Jesus’ death and resurrection can a person gain the removal of the stain and guilt of sins from him- or herself. All the ways people devise to remove the stain of sin reminds them of their guilt. The trying of these other means allows Satan to push that sliver deeper under your fingernail. You experience that guilt continually. Daily come before the Lord repenting of your sins so you will receive forgiveness and cleansing from the stains and guilty conscience of your sins. Hear the words of the writer of Hebrews again.

“Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22 [NASB]

Lord, God Almighty, lead me to recognize Your great love for me and the cost You paid to redeem me from sin. Forgive me of my sins, I pray. Thank You for removing the stain and the guilt of my sin. Thank You for removing the burden of guilt. Help me to love You more and grow closer to You daily. Help me show You how much I love You by my obedience to You. Amen.

Repentance then New Life: A Psalm 51:10 Devotional

David realized his sin and the guilt he carried because of it. He recognized God would not fellowship with Him in his state of sinfulness. In verses two, seven, and nine, David stated he was a sinner full of iniquity, transgressions, and guilt. He admitted (confessed) his sins to God and repented of them.

After his three confessions of sinfulness, David petitioned God to create a clean heart in him. He did not ask only for cleansing, but a re-creating of his heart. The Hebrew word translated as “create” means to transform, reshape, or re-form. Ezekiel used it in 18:31-32 recognizing a clean heart comes because of getting away from sins and includes confessing and repenting. He realized only when a person was no longer tainted by sins and the guilt of sins would God create a new heart in the person. Paul agreed with this and applied New Testament theology to it. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul taught  that when God creates a clean heart in a person, He creates that person in the image of Christ Jesus to do good works. He said we (Christians) are God’s workmanship. Without His cleansing and purification, He would not give us/create in us a new heart.

From this, we get the understanding that a clean heart comes from the forgiveness of God and His washing away our sins by the sacrificial blood shed by His sinless Jesus Christ. The heart David, Ezekiel, Paul, and others speak of is the inner being of each person. The mind, will, heart, and soul of a person that decides to act morally – according to God’s ways – or immorally is the inner being. From Paul’s earlier verse we recognize we can keep a clean heart by doing the good works of God. David added through Psalm 24:3-4 the one who has a pure heart and clean hands is the one who does not lie or swear deceitfully. Only those people, he said, could ascend the hill of the Lord. Luke stated in Acts 15:9 the pure in heart are the ones whom God cleansed their hearts because of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus taught in the Beatitudes the promise of seeing God for those with a clean heart (Matthew 5:8). Why would anyone not want to have a clean heart or be created in Jesus’ image? David, though he did not know the Savior, knew from God’s prophets God would send a Messiah. He sought the only way of being cleansed from his evil actions and thoughts, through God’s love and mercy, through God’s re-creating his heart.

David asked God for a second thing in this Psalm 51:10. He requested God renew a right spirit within him. This request for renewal shows David recognized his tainted and sinful being. He realized his sinfulness and repented to God. David realized only God, the original Creator of his being, could renew – remake – his inner being/heart so he could stand strong and not sin, not be weighed down by the guilt of his sins, and see God. With a heart restored by and to God, God became primary in his life once again.

With God as primary and relying upon Him, David could withstand temptations and trials and continue to be in fellowship with God. The word “right” David used comes from the Hebrew word meaning to be in alignment with God, and persevering, enduring, and being established in God and His ways because of love for Him. David spoke of a steadfast or right spirit other times, like in Psalm 78:36-37. He said in these verses a steadfast heart does not speak deceit or lies, but is faithful to God’s covenant with him/her.

David asked God to create in him a clean heart. He requested further that God re-make and transform his inner being - his heart - so he would be right with God – in a right relationship with Him because of being cleansed from his sins - and stand strong for Him persevering in faith no matter what trials and temptations arose.  We each need to ask ourselves daily if we are in a right relationship with God. Is there sin blocking our relationship with God and leading us to fall more often to temptation? Is there any stain and sin in our past we need to confess and repent as David recognized in himself and repented of to God? Only then will God create a new heart and establish a right relationship with Him for us. Remember, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

v  Now is the time to confess and repent.

v  Now is the time to go before God seeking forgiveness and renewing.

God wants to be in a personal, intimate, and growing relationship with you.

John 13:5-10 - A Devotion

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 

6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" 

7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."

8 Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me."

9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head."

10 Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."

In this passage, we find Jesus and His twelve disciples were preparing to eat together. This meal will come to be known as the Lord’s Supper. After sitting down, Jesus poured water into a bowl and began washing the disciples’ feet. Simon was astounded He would do this and proclaimed that His Lord and teacher should not wash his feet, but he the Lord’s.

We have read and heard teaching on this passage. We understand that Jesus lowered Himself to serve the disciples. At the end, He told the disciples to go and do as He did, be a servant to another.

Another thing we need to notice is Jesus’ words with Peter. When Peter exclaimed that the Lord should never wash his feet, Jesus said if I do not wash you, you will have no part, no destiny, with me. We rightly understand that the washing Jesus spoke of was the washing that cleansed people from sin and made them children of God, co-heirs with Christ.

What we need to notice is that Peter exclaimed then that he wanted Jesus to wash more than his feet. Jesus’ reply gives us a new understanding. Jesus said, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.” We understand that walking in Israel at that time was very dusty and when people sat to eat, they sat on the floor with their feet near the food and others. People did not want to offend others by their dirty feet so the host or his servant would bring water to wash the feet of people before they ate. Jesus recognized this when He told Peter not all of him was dirty, but only his feet. That is the literal interpretation of this passage. There is figurative interpretation, too. These disciples, except Judas, had come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and he cleansed them from their sin already. They no longer carried the death penalty for their sins. The disciples were His and not Satan’s. However, each day a person sins and needs to repent and receive forgiveness. Forgiveness from the Lord is cleansing. This is the cleansing Jesus meant when He told Peter He only needed to wash His feet. Being in the presence of Jesus, God’s Son, required His disciples to be clean from their sins, the ones they committed since they became His disciples. Jesus taught this to them when He washed their feet that day.

This is the lesson for us today. If you are already a disciple of Jesus, He has already cleansed your whole self. However, as we live in this sinful world day by day, we sin and need to be cleansed from our sin. We need to go before Jesus, confess our sins, repent, and ask Him to cleanse us. Our “dirty feet” keep us from being in the presence of God. It will weigh us down so that we cannot hear God as well and then we do not do all that God requires. Sin entangles us so that it is harder to run the race God has prepared for us. It is harder to be Jesus’ disciples and serve Him and other people.

How long has it been since you allowed Jesus to wash your feet? Today, right now, is the right time to go before the Lord confessing and repenting of your sin. Take the time now, for the next five minutes to be with the Lord and let Him cleanse you for this new day.