Surface Cleaning vs. Deep Cleaning

John 15:3

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

This past Saturday night, I went up to spend some time with my brother and sister in law. They are expecting a baby in 6 weeks and since I had some extra time, I just wanted to hang out with them and help them to get some things done around the house in preparation for baby...

One of the things my sister wanted to do was to plant some flowers...I know...that hardly sounds like something that needs to be done in preparation for a baby...but I just went with it! :) We went out to their back patio where my brother Brian was power washing the house and the patio and everything on it...and seeing as I have no "green thumb" in me...I felt like I wasn't the greatest help to my sister in law...seeing as she is a "green thumb". So, I helped where I could but then became intrigued by what my brother was doing...and by observing him, I learned a great lesson that night.

When I first looked at the patio...yes, it looked a bit dirty, branches, leaves, dirt clumps here and there, in my mind, nothing that a good sweeping wouldn't take care of and make it look better...right? I was amazed at the junk that was being washed away by the power of that power washer. I guess I had never seen anyone wash with a power washer. It was night and day difference the side that had been cleaned vs. the side that still needed cleaning. I begin to meditate on the concept here and apply it to my life spiritually. The power washer operated when the power was hooked up and the water was hooked up to it. In the hands of the operator, in this case, my brother, it was able to deep clean the patio and get the junk out off of it in ways that the hands of one alone could not do. As I began to apply this to my life I asked myself. How many times do I just "sweep away" the dirt out of my life offering up to God a surface cleaning..."God forgive me...I need to be clean of this sin..." only to find myself dealing with it again and again? I want the deep cleaning...the cleaning that brings change...the cleaning that is done with the water of the Word and the Power of the Holy Spirit...I learned in this illustration that I cannot clean myself up...it has to come from the power of the Word! John 15:3...now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. In Ps. 51:10 David is saying You God..."create in me a clean heart"...to create is to bring into being; cause to exist; produce. to originate or invent...the creation of a clean heart is something that can only be done by the hands of the Creator. The power washing was like a surgical transformation....I was amazed the ability it had to clean deeply and I am thankful that God opened my eyes to this picture. I desire the power washing of the Word of God to create in me a clean heart....I heard it said once..."You God alone are Holy and my unholiness craves Your holiness..."

So I present the question...are we just surface cleaning...getting rid of the junk on the outside but never even touching the deep dirt that plagues our hearts and hinders our lives from being holy? It's time for a deep cleaning...a power washing....a cleaning that can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Water of the Word! I challenge you and myself to offer up our hearts to God and give Him the liberty to deep clean our hearts so that we can be freed of sin to serve him with a clean heart...

Clean:free from dirt or filth: unsoiled/free from foreign or extraneous matter/free from defect or blemish/unadulterated; pure/entirely clean/free from encumbrances or obstructions/free of any form of defilement.....in simple words... CLEAN=FREE...

Are you clean? DEEP CLEANED?