Wash It Off

     Some branches grow too close to the ground, and get dirty so that they will not produce fruit.  The first thing a caretaker does to a branch that is not producing fruit is to pick up the branch.  The next thing that he does is wash it off.  John 15:3 says, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."  The caretaker picks up that branch that has gotten dirty and carefully washes the dirt off of it so that it can once again get the nutrients that it needs to begin producing fruit.

     At times in our lives we grow to close to this world, and we get ourselves dirty.  James tells us that pure religion is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.  Rather than trying to see how close we can get to the Son, we try to see how close we can get to the world, and we find ourselves getting dirty.  I have four daughters that I love very much.  My girls give me hugs and love to play and climb on me like I'm their personal jungle gym.  Many times when they do this, they do not always have the cleanest of hands or mouths.  My close are constantly getting hand prints on them with food and dirt.  This happens because I have a close relationship with my girls, so often I find my clothes dirty with whatever they have been doing or eating that day.  And the same is true of us spiritually.  We grow so close to the ground, that they hand prints of this world show up all over us. 

     At one such point in David's life, he wrote one of the most loved Psalms that we have in our Bibles, Psalm 51.  He had grown too close to the world, and had gotten the dirt of adultery, pride, murder, and deceit all over himself.  He began by admitting his guilt.  Over and over again in this psalm, he mentions his sin, his transgressions, and his iniquities.  We too need to acknowledge the mistakes that we have made.  We need to be honest with God and with ourselves about the dirt that we have in our lives.  He cried out to God in verse number two, "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."  He continues that thought in verse seven, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."  David said, "Lord, I have gotten dirty with the things of this world, and I need you to wash me."  Just like the caretaker lovingly washes off the dirty branch, God will wash off His dirty child.  Is there an area of your life that has grown too close to the world?  If there is, ask God to wash it off today.