Repentance Has Cleansing Power Unlike A Sponge Or Stone

Confession of sin to God, Our Father, and repenting, we bathe in the blood of Jesus Christ. Have you ever spent two or more days without taking a shower or a bath? Say it is summer time and the heat wave is on? Think about it. That is how we are spiritually in the eyes of God. We become so dirty, so unholy that our spirit smells from a distance so that we cannot approach the Holy God. What is surprising, this unholiness, this spiritual dirt is not visible to the natural or naked eye! You may see a good looking man well dressed and well shaven with good smelling after shave, cologne, but deep inside, he may be smelly and rotting! Likewise you may see a beautiful woman and well dressed with perhaps the right make up, right hairstyle and even jewelry. But she may be smelly and rotting inside! That tells you and  that it is quite difficult to know a person's spiritual state just from seeing them. Sometimes you may talk to them and then find out their spiritual state from the language and words they use.

Sometimes it is so obvious for a person's dirt and it is visible to everyone. Dark spots settle on your body wherever there is a folding. Sometimes the stench that is coming from a man or woman is so much that everyone else gets as far away from them. I take buses everyday in Southern California, but there is a certain bus route that has smelly buses because of many homeless, dirty people and drunk people who get on it. Day in, day out, these buses are so smelly, you just have to hold your breath and pray for the end of the route - 25 - 30 minutes!

Sometime we may not even know that there is a smell coming off our bodies, until someone lets us know! my dear Grandmother, Manjeri Mwagale, would say sometimes in my teens that Jessica, today you have a bad smell coming from you. She would ask me to wash my body thoroughly. She recommended some herbs that purge away the smell when used as soap. Remember David in Psalm 51 asked God to purge him with hyssop (Ezov in Hebrew). Until one washes off the dirt with soap and water, perhaps and a sponge or a stone, then cleanliness sets in. While you are taking a bath or shower, you may see so much dirt off your body. I have often wondered about this. Why is this dirt not so visible many times? 

Confession and repentance is needed daily and as often as we realize sin. We wash our hands every time after the bathroom, after contamination, and every before a meal so that we are clean. 

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

It is only God, our Father, Most Holy who can show us the spiritual dirt that we cannot see in our lives. Since He is Holy, as we approach Him, our unholiness is magnified, and we can only get near to Him when we confess our sins, repent and ask for His forgiveness.

Luganda Hymn: Luyimba:

Nsanyuse, nsanyuse, Yesu yanaazako ebibi.

Yanjagaza byayagala.

ansanyusa ennaku zonna.

Nsanyuse, nsanyuse, Yesu yanazaako ebibi.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:17)

Mu musaayi, munaabe, ogubanazaako ebibi.

Rev. Jessica Nakawombe

hyssop family