How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 9:14
Even as a child, I was boring. Nothing unique or unusual about me. I woke up, ate, went to school, came home, ate, watched TV till 11:30 at night, went to sleep. The next day, I repeated the same things. On Saturdays, I replaced school with bowling. On Sundays, church and bowling replaced school.
But there were those rare times when I did something different. Once a year, whether it needed it or not, I cleaned my room. You’re probably asking yourself how could I ever get away with that? Were my parents’ slobs? Did they just not care about what I did or how I lived?
None of these were true. You see, my bedroom was on the second floor and there was no earthly reason for them to ever go up there. I threw my dirty, smelly clothes in the hamper just before I took my two-minute shower. And then, somehow, they magically appeared clean and folded on the steps for me to take back up.
Anyway, every Christmas my dad had to come up to my room because it was the only way to get into the attic where the Christmas lights and decorations were stored. So, to avoid the annual pre-Christmas yelling and screaming tradition, I’d clean my room.
This meant that I had to get the dustmop to roundup all the dust bunnies that were running around my room. I also had to clear out my closet because the door to the attic was tucked away in the back, behind the pile of toys and cloths that had been carefully and skillfully tossed in there.
And while you’re probably scratching your head, wondering what this has to do with the Hebrews, it actually does connect. You see, cleaning my room happened at a certain time of the year. And after my room was cleaned, it immediately started going back to being dirty again. There was no way to clean my room and have it stay clean.
This is what the writer of this letter is saying to the Hebrews. It’s the same way with all the sacrifices and laws that they’d been following for all those years. Yes, there were sacrifices. Yes, there was that one day a year when all sins were forgiven. Yes, things were made right and clean. But then everything went back to the way it was.
So, when it comes to comparing the sacrifices, rules, and traditions of the old covenant, Jesus is really different. He doesn’t just clean them up so they can go right back to being the same old people. Not on your life. His one-time sacrifice takes care of all sin, for all time.
The Jesus kind of forgiveness and cleaning doesn’t just wash off the stuff on the outside. Oh no. He removes all the stuff that makes us dirty. He removes all the things inside of us that creates and causes the sin. We come out pure. Without any stains. Innocent. He makes us new again.
For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Phillips
Will we listen to this? Will we hear it? And more importantly, will we believe this? If God says that he’s made us into a new person, what can undo what he’s already done? If all our sins are covered once and for all, who can dig them up? Who can uncover them? If he’s made you and me fresh and new, who can undo it?
God says that all our sins that were red are now white as snow[1]. All our sins have been removed from him and us. How far? As far as the east is from the west[2]. The past is finished. The end. Finito. Or, in the words of Porky Pig, “That’s all folks[3].”
But that’s not all. It doesn’t stop there. It gets so much better. God doesn’t just clean us up and make us new. Oh no. He’s not done. He didn’t just start a good work and then leave us by the side of the road. Not on your life. He’s going to continue the good work. And he’s not going to stop until he thinks were finished[4].
Now that we’re actually clean and fully forgiven, what do we want to do? When we see all that God’s done and paid for us, we want to please the one who did it all for us. We happily are willing to do anything and everything that God wants us to do. There’s nothing that we won’t do for them.
When we love someone, we’ll stop anything to do what pleases the one we love. It’s never a sacrifice because love makes us want to make them happy. There’s never anything too hard or too much trouble. The other day, Mary Ann needed baking powder for something she was making. It was no trouble to run out and pick up this one thing. Why? Because I love her. So, If God did all this and more through Jesus, we’ll want to do anything and everything in response to him. So, what’s stopping us from responding to his love? What’s stopping you?
Noodling Questions
Describe your worst thing to cleanup. Why is it so awful?
Why is it that God doing the cleanup of our sins is so liberating
How does God’s love motivate you to live? How should it motivate you?
[1] Isaiah 1:18
[2] Psalm 103:12
[4] Philippians 1:6
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