Do You Need to Clean the Tub?

Deep cleaning has become a very popular pastime lately with the necessity of staying home and needing something to do. Several weeks ago (before all of this started) I decided to scrub the tub on a whim (that is how most of my deep cleaning happens). Half way through cleaning I noticed how very dirty the tub had been. Before I started cleaning I hadn’t really noticed all the grime. It wasn’t until I compared the clean half of the tub to the dirty half that I realized just how dirty it had been. I was so used to the build-up of grime that I didn’t notice it.

Psalm 51:2,3,10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me…

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

This happens in our spiritual lives as well. We become so used to the way we are that we don’t realize how “dirty” we’ve become. In the same way that an acquaintance will notice a child’s growth before a parent will, our everyday proximity to ourselves makes it hard to see how we are changing. If we do not take the trouble to examine ourselves daily, and ask God to reveal what needs to be cleansed within us, we will gradually grow more and more accustomed to sin and duller to the nudge of the Spirit.

James 4:7-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

This is the result our sin, every sin, should have on us. It is that grievous. Yet, the less time we spend with God the more immune we become to sin.

1 Corinthians 15:33 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

We are influenced by what we are around the most. Godly things influence us toward godliness and worldly things influence us toward worldliness. If we want to be godly, to honor God, then we need to spend time with God, surround ourselves with the things of God so that we will become like Him and can then honor Him. This does not mean that we should never be around worldly things, but that our greatest influence should be God; prayer, Bible study, godly friends, biblically based reading/music, etc.

2 Corinthians 13:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Psalm 26:2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Examine me, O Lord, and try me;
Test my mind and my heart.

We need to examine ourselves daily to make sure that we are not falling into worldliness, but we also need to ask God to examine us, because there will be things that we are immune to, grime we don’t notice because we are used to it. Then we need to ask God to purify and cleanse us so that we can be holy like He is.

Do you want to honor God? How much time do you spend with Him? Do you regularly examine your heart and life to see what needs to be removed? Begin or reinstate these practices in your life so that you can have a clean heart and pure life!