Most dogs don’t care to climb in a tub. A well-trained animal will do so, but only to please its master.
It’s also easier to wash the dog than rinse it down. By the time we have it covered with soap, its patience is about gone, and it wants to be free. When that water hose shows up again, it stands and shakes, and we’re lucky to not take a bath ourselves.
Even so, we have to rinse the dog. Leaving soap in its fur is about as bad as not giving the animal a bath in the first place.
2 Corinthians 7:1 tells us:
“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
To completion. That phrase means we must rinse all the soap away, for only then can we be assured all the dirt is also gone. At the pet store, we can buy refreshing spritzers for our pets. Just a few squirts, rub it in, and the animal smells as good as new. However, we haven’t removed any of the body oil or dirt that’s built up next to the skin. Our pet may smell better, but it’s not any cleaner.
When we arrive at church on Sunday morning, and all we’ve done is spritz ourselves, we will smell pretty good. However, unless we’ve brought out the water hose and rinsed down good, all the hateful comments and mean thoughts we’ve had all week will still be next to our skin, and we will not be clean at all, no matter how sweet we smell.
1 John 1:9 is our water hose.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Let’s climb in that tub and turn the water on. A good soaping, a thorough rinse, and we’ll be ready to greet our God. We won’t just smell clean, we will be clean, and that’s all the difference in the world.
God wants to rinse every bit of sin from our lives, so that we will stand clean and pure before him.
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