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| “Wash and make yourselves clean.” |
| —Isaiah 1:16 |
“If only I can live a good enough life, perhaps I will get to heaven.”
So many people continue to believe that their eternal salvation is a “Do-It-Yourself” endeavor. But, there are some things we simply can’t do for ourselves.
As a teen in high school my most dreaded period of the day was sixth period Physical Education class. I hated P. E.!
As an extremely obese person, I hated P. E. because of all the things I could not do. And, of all of those many impossible challenges, I hated the pommel horse the most.
Relatively tall in those long-ago days at 6 ft. 2 in., but weighing over 250 pounds, I could not make it over the pommel horse.
The P. E. teacher mocked me and humiliated me and gave me the only failing grade I ever received in high school.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not make it over that horse.
Looking back, while I don’t agree with all of his methods nor with the way he treated me, the P. E. Teacher was trying to motivate me into making drastic changes in my life.
The prophet Isaiah was faced with an even more daunting task. God had chosen Isaiah to speak on God’s behalf to the wayward people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Isaiah was to show the people they needed to change. But, he also gave them hope.
Here’s Isaiah 1:16-18:
“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,”says the Lord.“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson,they shall be like wool.”
The people of Judah could not wash and make themselves clean, for salvation only comes from God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Though they needed to do everything God told them to do, they could only do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. God had to provide the very salvation that they so desperately needed. There was no DIY salvation.
How fortunate we are that God has washed us thoroughly in the blood of His Son. There is no DIY salvation for us either. But, God has given us our salvation in and through Jesus.
Let us praise Him this day for our salvation. And, let us obediently live as ones who have been plucked from the fires of hell.
