When I think of dirt many things come to mind. My dad was a farmer, so I naturally think of planting and gathering vegetables, especially potatoes. My favorite time of harvest was when it was time to dig the potatoes. My Dad would plow them, and we would follow in our bare feet and find the potatoes. To me, being in the freshly plowed dirt was fun. I also think about the truth that God created man from dirt. These two associations with dirt are pleasant, but there is also another side to dirt. It makes us dirty. When my boys were growing up, they played baseball a lot! There were always dirty clothes from them sliding into the bases or diving for a ball. It did not bother them at all, they were used to being dirty, but it bothered me, so we had rules. They were not to sit on anything or do anything in the house until they removed the dirty clothes, placed them in the laundry, and showered. Today I want to focus on a different kind of dirt. The dirt or filthiness of sin.
Some people live their entire lives in the dirt but because that is all they have ever known they do not realize they are dirty. Those who have never been exposed to the gospel do not see the dirt that is covering them. Their idea of a good time is to do whatever feels good to them. Sexual immorality, drunkenness, lying, and stealing, are all ok to them under certain situations. For instance, a person may believe it is wrong to cheat on their spouse, but they enjoy watching programs exhibiting this behavior and even justify the cheating because of the actions of one of the spouses. They may believe it is wrong to go to a bar and get drunk, but they justify it because they have a designated driver. They justify lying if the truth will hurt someone, they justify stealing when they take articles from work that they didn’t buy. On and on I could go but these situations show us how we can be dirty and because we are our own god, we think we are clean. No one can justify us but God himself. When we justify our actions, we become our own God. Just like the dirt did not bother my boys but was painful to me, so are our dirty hearts and minds to God. The dirt of our sin breaks His heart.
When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, He cleanses us from all the dirtiness of sin. At the moment of our salvation, God sees us as clean because the righteousness of His Son is applied to our lives. Will there be times that we sin after we are saved? Absolutely, that is why we have verses like I John I:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John was written to Christians to encourage those who were faithful but struggling to hold on to the truths of the gospel. When we sin, it is as if we are dirty again. We are to come to Him and confess and He will forgive. However, the goal is to stay clean. We are to be holy as God is holy.
In I Peter 1:13-16 God is instructing us to be disciplined in our thoughts. We are to be sober, or serious. We must be obedient children following God, not the world and its ways. The world should not influence how we dress, what we say, or what we do. God has called us to be holy in all manner of conduct. We are His children, and we are to be holy as He is holy. Will we be able to stay clean from the time we are saved until we die? Probably not, be that should be our goal. We need to remember that sometimes dirt stains and it is impossible to wash away all traces of the dirt. God will forgive but the stains remain. Therefore, we are to be diligent about our walk with God. We are to keep ourselves clean by staying away from the dirt and close to Him.
I Peter 1:13-16 “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
The closer we get to God through study, prayer, and obedience the easier it will be to stay clean. We need to stop walking on the edge of the dirt pile and get in the center of God’s will.
