Cleansing Is A Big Deal
If you have received Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you know that Jesus has forgiven you, no matter what sins you committed in your past. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Notice the “all.”
If you haven’t received Christ yet, now is the time to do so! He loves you and desires a true, lively relationship with you. Jesus’ mercy is greater than any sin.
After salvation, we still must deal with sin. The Apostle Peter wrote:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” - 1 Peter 1:14-16 ESV
But how can we be holy if we still commit sins? Sins are serious matters that must be dealt with. Thankfully, we have the promise in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This was written to Christians. God made provision for us to be restored if we sin.
Do we all miss the mark? Yes. Will Jesus forgive? Yes. Is confession all there is to it? No. There is the matter of God cleansing us from all unrighteousness so we can be holy.
God goes beyond forgiving us. God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. This cleansing frees us from the contamination from sin. This is God’s work of sanctification - becoming separate from our old sinful nature and devoted to God.
But this doesn’t happen without our engagement, and the first step in that cleansing is repentance. This is confirmed in Proverbs 28:13: “He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.” (emphasis added)
Repentance is a change in direction concerning a sin. And repentance includes a change in attitude about sin. We can’t just decide to stop pursuing a sin (a change in direction); we must also renounce that sin (our attitude).
God really dealt with me about this when it came to violent movies. All of my life, I enjoyed “Action” movies. And “Action” movies always include car crashes, shoot-outs, and lots of explosions. These are as American as apple pie, right? My “problem” came when I read Psalm 11:5 ESV: “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” YIKES!
My Action movies were always good guys versus bad guys, but most of them contained massive amounts of violence. In the hope that I had misunderstood what this verse meant, I started looking up verses about violence, but the Holy Spirit led me to Noah before the flood.
12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
- Genesis 6:12-13 ESV
That hurt. It was clear that avoiding violent movies would not be enough. I also had to change my attitude toward my favorite movie genre. Since God hates violence, I had to hate violence. So, eating popcorn and feeling the rush of adrenaline from Arnold or Bruce or Nicholas shooting, breaking necks, and stabbing while suffering wounds that would kill any normal person had to not just be avoided (direction). No, I had to hate what was taking place (attitude).
This brings me back to God’s provision for us when we sin. His cleansing may take time. Not because He lacks the ability, but because we lack the willingness to change our direction and attitude about sin. The whole “cleansing us from unrighteousness” is about us being holy, as God is holy.
Cleansing is a big deal. Forgiveness puts us back into good standing with God, while cleansing comes through God’s enabling power for us to truly repent and live in holiness.