Power-washers are cool. Let's just all agree on that. I've owned several over the years. From cheap, small electric models that struggle to even remove a splattered bug from the grill of my car to gas-powered beauties that can rip the siding clean off your house if you're not careful.
One of my annual springtime chores is power-washing my back deck. It's one of those tedious tasks that are relatively monotonous but just need to be done. Kind of like mowing the lawn, washing the car or anything associated with painting.
Over this past weekend I found the time to power-wash my deck. I filled it with gas, hooked up the hoses and fired it up. For the next two hours, there was nothing but the sound of a small engine and high pressure water shooting from the wand blasting away at my deck. Moving the wand back and forth over every...single....board, well this of course gives a man time to think. My thoughts typically drift from one topic to another topic when doing one of these types of chores. Oh, and I'll admit, my thoughts are quite random;
"I wish I had my own landscaping company so I could be outside all summer."
"Wouldn't it be cool if people had stingers like bees?"
"Scajaquada is a weird name for a creek."
"Beards are like candy to the eye."
As I watched my deck turn from dirt grey in color to bright and new looking, it got me thinking. This is a good illustration of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The dirty deck is your life of sin ground into the fibers of your self. Left untreated, the deck (your life) continues to get darker and covered with more and more sin. We can try to remove the life-stains by sweeping off the deck from time to time, but they still remain. That type of cleaning is superficial and ineffective.
In order to really make a difference, it takes a powerful change in how we try to get rid of those stains. It takes a power-washer. Jesus is the power-washer in our lives. With our focus on Him, we can direct His power through us to blast away those stains of sin. It's slow and methodical, but it's focused and lasting. Through giving your life to Jesus we experience a powerful life change from a dirty and grey, to one that is bright and new.
To quote an old hymn, "what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus"
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 ESV
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