God Notions

John 13:10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean.” 

The other day I took a walk under the brilliant blue sky, warmed by the sun, the crisp fall air kept the tip of my nose cold. I love these walks. I can’t help but look up and always my heart is filled with praise for our Father.

Sometimes during those moments, the Holy Spirit will bring things up to mind that I am not particularly proud of. I struggle with bringing them to the feet of Jesus because I just don’t want to face facts. I sin. I had a short inner conflict of whether to ignore the soft convictions of the Holy Spirit or to fess up. With an inner heavy sigh, I acknowledged and agreed with the Holy Spirit that I had done things I needed to ask forgiveness for. I had done things that did not agree with who I am …a child of God. I had been prideful. I had been selfish and maybe even a little self-righteous.

I felt the forgiveness of Christ in the depth of my heart. I thought, there has to be more. I wanted to clean the slate. I dug deep not wanting to miss anything. Like a gift handed down to me from heaven, I was reminded: Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean.” John 13:10

I have had a bath! I have been washed in the sacrificial blood of Christ and clothed with His righteousness, not mine. I don’t have any righteousness that I have earned. But, I am in the process of being sanctified. I realized that in my walk with Jesus if I acknowledge and confess my sins when convicted instead of trying to ignore or hide from them, my relationship with Him, with God, is stronger more intimate. If I try to ignore and hide from my sin, the longer my list gets, the harder it is to turn back, to acknowledge, to be restored into a right relationship with God. I prefer to keep a short account and keep my relationship with Christ Jesus open and free-flowing.

When I was a young child, sometimes in the summer after our baths, my sister and I would be allowed to go outside in our pajamas to catch fireflies. When it was time to come in, we didn’t get another bath, we simply had to wash our feet before getting into bed. I can still remember the feeling of being clean.

There is nothing like the feeling of being clean, physically or spiritually.