Clean It Up

Several years ago, my sister and brother-in-law moved into an old Victorian home that was in rough shape and needed renovation. The day we helped move them in, I remember how old and worn out everything looked. They didn’t have a lot of money to do a complete remodel, but I’ll never forget coming into their home and looking around just a month or two after they moved in. It looked fabulous. I said, “What did you do?”“We just cleaned everything up really well.” And that’s all they did. They took off all of the brass fixtures on their walls, doors, and ceilings, cleaned them thoroughly, and polished them until they shined like new. Every door had beautiful, sparkling crystal door handles, with brass backing. The light switches were brass and crystal. The light fixtures (mostly old chandeliers) glistened. And the walls looked like they had been freshly painted.I asked them if they had painted the whole house. But they hadn’t. They had simply washed all the walls thoroughly and cleaned up the cabinets and fixtures, and the old house came alive.Sometimes all it takes is to get the grit and grime out of the way and let the beauty of what’s beneath shine through.And that’s why Jesus came and why the Father sent him. Our lives were wrecked by the corrosive elements of this world and the dirt and grime of our sin. Jesus came to deliver us and to clean us up, restoring us to himself, to be who we were created to be. Receiving Jesus in faith does that, but the process of sanctification is partly up to us. We have some scouring and polishing to do in our daily lives, so that the presence of Jesus comes through and our Maker receives his rightful honor and glory.“Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God” (2 Corinthians 7:1 NLT).