“Wash up for dinner” was a
directive I rarely, if ever, heard while growing up. My family wasn’t nasty. Far from it. Both of my parents were “clean freaks.” At least my
mom. But for some reason, I wasn’t told to wash my hands before eating. Perhaps
because they were never dirty in the first place. I had inherited my parents’
cleanliness gene. I didn’t like dirt or anything sticky on my hands. I guess my parents imagined my hands were always clean. No reason to tell
me to wash them before eating. In their mind, I had already washed them for
some other reason.
But my parents also believed a few
germs would never hurt anyone. Germs would help build my immune system—which,
in fact, was a correct philosophy. If I wanted to play in
the dirt or handle dirty things and then eat, that was perfectly acceptable. Or
if I dropped food on the floor or on the ground and then put it in my mouth,
that was okay too—within limits. My parents weren’t neglectful. Nor would they
ever put me in a dangerous situation.
Overall, I was a clean child, so
there was no need to worry too much about cleaning me up. The psalmist
considered himself clean—even righteous. But he wasn’t self-righteous. God had
taken care of his sin, declared him clean, and was now going to deliver him
from his enemies’ tactics. The coming deliverance wasn’t based on anything the
psalmist had done—or deserved. It was based solely on who God was.
Our righteousness comes the same way
as the psalmists did. We shouldn’t brag about it because we didn’t do anything to
deserve it. Nor is it based on anything we did or could do. Rather, our righteousness issues from what Christ did on Calvary’s cross and our request
that the benefits be applied to our lives. God declared us righteous because of
what his sinless Son did.
God will deliver us in life and
death because we’re righteous, but all the credit goes to him. We can’t wash up;
only he can clean us up.
If he hasn’t already, let God wash
you and make you clean.
Father, thank you for making me clean through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
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