Calvin Synod Herald, 2002 (103. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
2002-01-01 / 1-2. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 3 Lent: It’s Time To Come Clean “Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and put a new and right spirit within me” A mother’s despair is to hear from her child’s lips the plea, “0 Mom, why do I have to wash again?” A child has fun in mind, which may include simply getting dirty. Dirty puddles and mud pies are fun! That same child as a baby accepted dirty diapers and runny noses - until he found out it made him unacceptable, when someone said, “Whew! You stink!” As a baby he didn’t understand the meaning of words, but when knowledge came so did shame. It is only when we become aware of what sin does that we see its utter ugliness. And while dirt can be washed away from our skin, sin makes us unpleasant because of inner ugliness, and we are unacceptable, even to God. The Heidelberg Catechism informs us that it is necessary for us to know “the greatness of my sin and misery.” Without knowledge, we are like the unknowing baby, shamelessly content to wallow in our filth and, to be “as good as the next guy,” but not good enough for God! We were all good; “God don’t make no junk.” Our Secret Past While we can “come clean,” we often try first to cover up. Most - no, make that - all people like to hide the truth about ourselves. We all have a past. More obvious are the effort to hide jail records, drunken driving convictions, alcoholism, abortions, school failures, getting fired or jilted for another. We select our clothes to hide body faults, horizontal stripes to hide thin frames and vertical ones to mask our plumpness. We try to dodge the in-laws inspection or the I.R.S. But God knows! We can hide from people, but not from the God who tries the heart, the final Judge. As Psalm 139 informs us, “Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, 0 Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. ” Caught Red-handed Like the thief caught climbing out the window with a pillow full of the silverware, or the adulterers caught in bed by a spouse, our deeds are known to the God who sees all: “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence ? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in Sheol, Thou art there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Thy hand shall lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say. ‘Let only darkness cover me... darkness is as light unthThee’.” At this point, we are compelled to make a crucial decision. Like many criminals, we can ignore the evil we have done, protest our innocence or just shrug off the bad business of being caught, and go right on doing what we did before - with all the consequences. We might also “wise up” and try to change our ways, because we don’t like to be perceived as “wicked” by man or God. The Lord opens up the door to a new life, if we approach Him with a contrite spirit. “Search me, 0 God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any uncked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ” His Son Cleanses Us When someone caught is asked to “come clean,” it implies that there is a cleansing effect by telling the truth. The Psalmist says: “I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and I did not hide my iniquity. I said, T unit confess my transgressions to the Lord’; then Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. ” It is our sin that is unacceptable to God, and keeps us from entering the City of God, the kingdom of heaven. But God, in Christ, reconciled those of a contrite heart, His red blood outpoured for our sins, restoring our God-given purity. As Isaiah said, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. ” In one church’s kitchen a sign was posted for all to heed: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” Cleanliness gained should result in cleanliness kept. There’s no sense cleaning an overflowing closet, where the stuff keeps falling out when you open the door (shades of Fibber McGee!), if you’ll just fill it up again. But the only way to stop it is with a whole new mindset, that disdains untidiness and clutter. To be cleansed by God is to be truly clean. But it is necessary to stay clean, as we read in Colossians: “And you who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him, provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard... ” But how do we get a clean heart and a right spirit? Again Heidelberg leads us, that the second thing we must know is “how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery,” and that the gift of God is His Son, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given unto us for complete redemption and righteousness.” It is Christ who comes before us with the words, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me. ” He stands at the door and knocks, and wisdom replies, “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!” My New Heart We are not babes unawares of His crucifixion, but, with the knowledge that He loved us that much, we are driven to find out “how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption.” And it is the Spirit of God who draws us so close to Jesus that our lives and His become inseparable. As Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himselffor me. ” With Christ in us, we look at all of God’s world with difference eyes. Hate finds no place, as we look on the others as God’s children for whom Christ died also. Lust gives way to thoughts of respect, refusing to be a part of that which pol
