Snuggling with God

Here are some promises from the Almighty God that I’ve been meditating on over the last few weeks. 

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put with you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rule” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Today I’ll share about the promise of God to cleanse us.

I have been made more deeply aware recently of how easily and unknowingly I trust in something more than the God of the Universe.  I know I struggle with the worship of other gods like everyone else, but somehow I still thought that it wasn’t so bad.  But more recently God has helped me to see how much I live oriented on things that are not forever sure.  Things like democracy, capitalism, freedom, grocery stores, 2 day free shipping.  There is a below the radar belief in me that if these things exist in my life, then I am alright.  But when any of these things get challenged, my life starts to rock back and forth caught in the waves of uncertainty.  I am in great need of cleansing. 

My soul is filthy with idolatry, more than I can imagine.  I am reminded again, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).  Faced with that question, I can only answer “certainly not me!” 

But thankfully I have a promise: that God will sprinkle me with clean water and cleanse me from all my idols.  And in fact, He already has.  On the glorious day of July 24, 1994 I was baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  I was cleansed from all my sin because Christ in all His goodness died for me.  In baptism I joined Christ in His death, so I died too (Romans 6:3).  And I rose in new life.  I am a new creation, the old has passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17).  I am clean because of the word that Jesus has spoken to me (John 15:3).  And this is what has been declared over me: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  I am clean, precious before God.

My daughter loves to snuggle with me.  Here favorite place to do that is in my big comfy bed.  But I’m a bit of a clean freak.  So, my favorite time to snuggle with her is after her bath! (Don’t worry, I do love my daughter ALL the time!).  And maybe I’m not the only one who is like this.  The fact of the matter is, God can’t be with us until we are clean.  And only He could do it.  So, Jesus came to our rescue, shedding His blood that we might be cleansed from our broken hearts that lead us to love, fear, and trust in things that are not gods.  Thanks to Christ, I know my Father in heaven will snuggle with me. 

I am clean.  God promised and God delivered!  And this promise is not just for me.  It is for all “who are in Christ Jesus.”  Believe it today and be cleansed!

I close with words that I hope will help you to see again your heavenly Father’s heart for you:

“And he arose and came to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).