Prayer For All The Cleaning God Knows We Need

 Who will ever forget the days of no toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning wipes or disinfectant solutions on store shelves in the early days of the pandemic?  Fortunately that scenario changed.  But now I’m asking myself as I walk into stores, church, restaurants, etc. do we remember a day when there was no hand sanitizing at the entrance?  We’ve all asked ourselves numerous questions about cleaning and sanitizing over these long months of the pandemic.

Well, as I think about cleaning, standing here in my kitchen, to which I invite you all on a regular basis, I think about what needs cleaning that you don’t see.  I reach up to open the cupboard door above the microwave sometimes and by that bit of a “greasy touch” that some further cleaning is needed.  My favourite cleaning solution for things like kitchen grease is a solution of vinegar and water.  I always keep a spray bottle of it ready to go under the kitchen sink.  It’s effective and non toxic.

All that said, to bring us to thinking about the cleaning up of our lives that God wants to do.  We often speak of God removing our defects of character – giving Him permission to expose and remove those things that are hindering our ability to live life to the full.  We are precious to God and He wants us to live the freshest and most joy-filled life we could ever imagine. 

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.  1 John 3:2-3

One of the keys to that life is having God identify for us what is right and what is staining our hearts and minds.  We prayed together yesterday about asking God to clean our hearts, to forgive our sins, and to set us right.  He is more than willing to do that.

The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray.  He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands. Psalm 25:8-10

The good news is that we don’t have to wait until we mess things up.  Just as we “clean as we go” in the kitchen, so God wants us to allow Him to clean us as we go through our day.  It’s important for us to choose for God’s way each time His direction conflicts with what we think is a better way.  We are naturally bent towards living in self-will and we live in a sinful broken world.  We get marked up and greased up every day and need the cleansing and refreshing God makes available. 

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.  1 John 1:8-9

So today, Loving God, we want to live in truth and purity. We want you to not only remove the sinful actions we are conscious of but the character defects that leave stains on our world as we go about our daily activities.  We give You permission, God, to remove them, to cleanse us, and help us become the person You created us to be.

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. Psalm 51:7-8

As we go through our day, make us aware of those ways that we are still bent towards our own broken way of thinking and feeling.  Help us to recognize where we leave those marks and greasy stains.  Give us the willingness to apply Your cleansing blood that You paid such a high price for on the cross to make available to us – that ultimate cleaning solution for our hearts and character.  Purify us from our sins and we will be clean.  Wash us and we will be white than snow.  Amen

So, whether it’s our kitchens or our hearts, let’s be in the cleaning business today.  And we all know that nothing brings a smile more than something freshly cleaned up, right?  Have a great day.