Have You Been Scrubbed This Week?

As you look back on the week just lived

may your regrets vanish in the presence of God’s grace.

May you find that God was quick to convict you of mistakes made

and may you take comfort in that rebuking,

knowing that a good Father corrects a child He loves.

And if only now your eyes are opened to the error of your ways,

may you embrace the enlightening of your heart and mind

like a warm, cleansing wash cloth,

refusing those inner voices of justification and self-pity and denial

that tend to wrestle against the gentle but firm hand of God.

For aren’t we thrilled to know that God is ever at work in us,

refusing to leave us for long to our own devices?

Aren’t we overcome with relief

when we realize that our inner Compass

isn’t broken or, worse yet, lost?

And don’t we rest in the confidence that He is indeed

doing just what He promised to do when the Son requested,

“Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is the truth?”

Oh, take joy, my friends, in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit

as you climb out of the warm and sometimes abrasive bath of this past week.

It is good to be cleaned up and fit for heaven;

even if we sometimes get a little soap in our eyes!