About CFC
Unclean! Unclean!
By Ashleigh Dawson
22nd February 2012 | Category: Join the Journey 2012
Key Verse
“The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’”
Central truth
With Jesus, we can be cleansed into righteousness
Main Content
Washed recently?
In the times of Moses, if you got sick you were considered ‘unclean’ and hence possibly sinful...
Essentially in those days, skin disease = ‘heart disease’ and thus ‘sin’. What was happening on the outside was a reflection of an 'unclean inside'.
I'm not saying that the same is true for today, but what I am saying is here we have a list of regulations that show us how people at that time dealt with what we assume was merely some physical ailment, but in fact it’s about how they dealt with their ‘uncleanness’ as one of a Holy God’s people.
In this time holiness and being at one with God was all about cleanliness and it was only a priest who could decide if you were clean or unclean. In order to make yourself clean you had to (obviously) wash yourself with water. If you were clean on the outside then essentially you could approach God and be "friends" with Him again.
I don't know about you but personally I am mega relieved this is not the case today. (It's good to be clean and all but I don't live a perfect life so I would spend my whole time visiting priests and washing myself!)
I feel so privileged to serve a God that is a personal God, who loves me and wants to be my friend regardless of my sin (not that this is a permission slip to live a life of wrongdoing/sinfulness).
So how's your heart?
All I'm saying is that with Jesus we have the opportunity to come before God ourselves and repent and be cleansed. In Moses’ day they cleansed the body with water but in New Testament times Jesus told them that being clean came from the heart.
Matthew 15 tells us that it is not what goes into our mouth that makes us unclean but rather what comes out of it. What comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and it is that make a person clean or unclean.
Therefore, If we can keep our hearts pure and remember that there is abundant grace from God then perhaps we don't need to worry so much about what’s on the outside...maybe that’s the problem with today?
People are too busy trying to make their outside look presentable whilst their insides are rotting.
Consider:
What is coming out of your mouth and hence your heart these days?
Is it helpful and encouraging or cynical and judgemental?
Is there anything in your heart that needs uprooted and cleansed? If so deal with it before God today.
Ashleigh Dawson
Ashleigh Dawson is an intern at CFC Belfast and works part time at the Coffee Yard in Holywood. She has a little sister who is 2 years old that she loves LOADS (ahhhh). She has a strong heart for youth and young adults and wants to help them understand who they are in God to enable them to walk in their freedom and in the fullness of the plans that God has for them.
