Total clean

‘Listen!’ says Jesus. ‘I am coming soon! I will bring my rewards with me, to give to each one according to what he has done. I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’

Happy are those who wash their robes clean and so have the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life and to go through the gates into the city.   (verses 12-14)

Read Revelation 22: 12-21

It would appear my name isn’t Simpson for nothing – I always go for the cheapest laundry detergent on the supermarket shelf. Never mind that it doesn’t always give a clean wash, or that I have to use twice as much as other brands for it to be effective and I therefore have to stock up again sooner rather than later. I just keep kidding myself that I’m doing the right thing.

It’s pretty important that you and I get the washing procedure right for the outfit we’ll be wearing when we have to front up to God.

The instructions are in his word (and I paraphrase): For a guaranteed total clean, wash in the blood of Jesus.

Any other wash, says God – even one in lots of good works­ simply will not do. It will not provide the total clean that he, as a righteous God, rightly demands.

Thank God, Jesus’ blood is never out of stock, and, while precious, is not only inexpensive but, amazingly, free.

Lord Jesus, I praise you as the one whose blood has made me totally, and therefore acceptably, clean. Amen.

by Grace Simpson, in ‘Guidance for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2002)

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