The Sanctifying Scrub Brush
I hear a whispering voice some days. This voice never says anything positive. The voice tells me I will never be enough. Never amount to anything. Never be able to change. Never be who I want to be. Never be who God wants me to be. That I will always be stuck in sin because I was born into sin.
As I read my Bible the other day, I was directed to the book of John. In the middle portion of chapter 8, Jesus was speaking to the Jews who believed in Him, and He said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
As I reflect on the last few years of my life, I see two versions of myself.
The first version, I see a time where I believed God existed, but I did not read His word to know the truth. During this time, I did not make Him the Lord of my life. I excused myself from all of my sin because I was human. As a human, I knew I could never be perfect and believed that God would be ok with the sin I still struggled with. After all, I could not be entirely free of sin, right?
The second version, I see myself now. I still believe God exists, but I read His word and know the truth. I have made Him the Lord of my life. Instead of excusing myself from all of my sin, I hold myself accountable to rid myself of as much sin as I can. Not because it makes me perfect. Not because it makes me look good to others. Instead, I do it because I have found a true love for God and my heart desires to please Him over my selfish worldly desires. Yes, I am still not perfect. However, God sees the sacrifices I have made. He sees the change in my heart. He recognizes I no longer desire the worldly pleasures, but that my heart has undergone complete change. He sees that my heart only desires to do what pleases Him and to serve Him. He sees that I am no longer the god of my life, but that I have made Him my God!
Until I started reading God’s word, I had my worldly blinders on. When I finally decided to do the polar plunge and dive into His word, that’s when His truth removed my blinders. God’s word and the Holy Spirit worked within my heart and my mind to show me all the filth I was excusing in my life. The Holy Spirit handed me a bucket of soapy water and said, “You’ve got some cleaning up to do. God doesn’t want this dirt over here in your life.” So I started scrubbing. Then as I continued along, the Holy Spirit would point out another spot that needed cleaned up, and another.
I’ve been scrubbing with this same bucket of water for quite some time. The walls of my life have become quite clean. Some areas were difficult to scrub off and took a lot of work to remove. I thought I would miss homosexuality when I scrubbed that last spec off, but I do not. I thought I would miss drinking alcohol when I scrubbed that last spec off, but I do not. I thought I would miss all of my excuses as to why I could not go to church every service and Bible study, but I do not. I thought I would miss much of the other sin in my life, but I do not.
That small whispering voice once told me I could not accomplish all of this scrubbing in my life. That voice told me it would all be done in vain and for nothing. Yet, God has proven that small, whispering, voice of LIES to be wrong TIME AFTER TIME, again and again…
As I stand back and look at the walls of my heart, they are shining so bright and white! Others who do not understand the truth, THE REAL TRUTH, may look at my life and pick out areas that I'm still scrubbing and say, "HA! Look! You are still dirty!" But when I stand back with the Holy Spirit and look at all of the walls in their entirety, there is no doubt that the sanctification process has taken place, as those walls now sparkle and shine like never before.
And you know what is best about it all?
This bucket of water is still clean, my sponge still looks brand new, and the scrubbing continues just as much today as when I first started years ago!
What do you need to start scrubbing today?
- Brandy
