Parents: "Did you shower?" Me: "Uh-huh."

I guess when King Solomon said,

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the

sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9, NIV)

he was speaking great wisdom. As a 7 year old, I can remember my mom sending me to the bathroom and telling me to make sure I take a bath and wash well. As a young child, my focus was on playing in the water not washing. I can still remember the occasional after bath inspections my mom would execute. She would check my body to be sure I actually bathed. Fast forward to my wife and I training our four children to bathe and get clean.

The kids would come out of the bathroom and bounce out into the living area. We would ask them, "Did you bathe?" They would reply "Uh-huh." We would ask, "Did you wash your whole body?" They would reply, "Uh-huh." What parent doesn't want to believe their child is telling the truth? My wife and I would walk back to the bathroom and check its condition. We were surprised and maybe a bit stunned to find the wet wash clothes hanging on the rack. The soap, however, was bone dry.

So, we would go back to our children and ask the same probing questions. "Are you sure you bathed?" They would reply "Uh-huh." We would ask, "Are you sure you washed your whole body?" They would reply, "Uh-huh." Then we would ask them how they bathed and got the soap to dry out so quickly. Silence......as heads would drop and each child knew they had been weighed on the balance and found wanting. It is one thing to say you'll do something but a whole other thing to actually do what you say you will do. Therein was the difference between children believing mom and dad were concerned about hygiene and them actually obeying their parents instruction.

Humanity struggles with the same tension when it comes to Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you just the way you are, but doesn't want you to stay that way. We drag our filthy lives to the cross and seek cleansing and reconciliation. We know intuitively that we are at odds with our God and know we need transformed. Yet, many times, we read the Bible and assume we can cut corners and play around with our faith and salvation. Rationalization occurs and instruction from our heavenly Father is treated cavalierly and with little regard for God's great love and concern for us. We pridefully continue on in our sinful lifestyle choices and believe God will look the other way.

We might even try to pull the wool over the eyes of our God. An omniscient God hears our conniving and must ache within. Scripture instructs us to believe and we say yes with our lips but our hearts are enmeshed in darkness. God must desire our restoration so much. The "Verse of the Day" from John 3 (shown above) came fast on the heels of some of the most well known scriptures in the Bible.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not

perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to

save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV)

You see friends, it isn't God's desire to condemn us (the world). God wants to save us (the world) but only through those who believe, trust, and obey Him. Are you dabbling around in your faith? Maybe your faith has become stagnant and tarnished. God seeks to cleanse you and make you whiter than snow. Listen to His voice, allow the blood of Jesus to work in your life and to present you before God as a new creation. When God asks if we have received the cleansing of Jesus Christ, we can say, "Uh-huh."