She gave me a difficult assignment. “Go outside and bring Nicki in for her bath,” my sister pleaded.
I found my three-year-old niece, not among the backyard play things, but at the edge of the yard, near a burned tree stump. Her hands were so black, I thought she wore mittens. Her knees and feet matched the mittens and her small raccoon eyes completed the picture.
“Nicki,” I began, “Mommy says it’s time to come in for your bath.”
“I not dirty,” she informed me.
I tried several strategies, including a list of yummy things Mom was cooking. She shrugged. In a firm voice, I said, “Mommy says to come in now. If she says you’re not dirty, we’ll come back together and play until dinner is ready.”
“Okay,” she said.
We entered the house through a side door. A tall mirror stood at the end of the hall. Nicki walked in front of me with a determined pace, but a short distance from the mirror, she stopped. She took one hesitant step and then another. With one last footstep, she touched the mirror with an outstretched hand. “I ready for my ‘baff’ now,” she said.
I followed her small feet to the bathtub.
The Bible is clear. Our pretense at being okay the way we are is an illusion, but promises of forgiveness and total cleansing overflow in Scripture. Our Father is reliable. He will make us thoroughly clean. Yet, in spite of these promises, we try to avoid looking at our own wrongdoing. God gently helps us. Sometimes He speaks through an event or another person, but most often through the mirror of His Word.
It’s challenging to keep a pure heart in an impure world. Confessing our sin is like telling our heavenly Father, “I ready for my ‘baff’ now.” Take a moment to confess your need for His purity. Soak in His forgiving love. Receive His perfect cleansing.
(Photo courtesy of morguefile and rupertjefferies.)
(For more devotions, visit www.christiandevotions.us.)
What a simple, but powerful story to bring us face-to-face with our sinfulness and our need to be cleaned up by God. You have a way of bringing a scene to life. Thanks for sharing, Sondra.
This is one of the best illustrations I've ever heard of our own illusion of sinlessness, and what an accurate look in the mirror of God's Word can show us. Well done!