Walk the Talk . . . Keep a Clean Heart

Week 29, Thursday

Dayna Street

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (nasb)

One August morning I went out to get into my car to go to work. When I opened the car door, a large cockroach scampered from beneath my car and dove under the car mat. My husband was still home, so I ran back into the house and called for him to come quickly. I added that he needed some kind of a weapon, so he grabbed a mallet as he walked through the garage and proceeded to come to my rescue.

Much to my dismay, when he lifted the car mat, there was no sign of the intruder. He looked under the car seats and took out all the car mats. Still, there was no sign of that bug. We then surmised that it must have gone under the floorboard carpet, so he spent the next few minutes hitting the floorboard with his cockroach-killing mallet. By this time I was late for work, so I had to leave.

Although my husband assured me that there was no way the cockroach could have possibly survived his assault, I was not totally convinced. The entire way to work I kept one eye on the floorboard because I was terrified that the nasty creature was going to crawl out from its hiding place and attack me. When I got to work, I jumped out of my car and locked the door, defying that bug to survive the Memphis heat of that August day.

As I reached my hand to open the door to the building, I suddenly stopped as I sensed the Holy Spirit ask me a piercing question, “Are you as repulsed by your sin as you were that cockroach?” I realized that as revolting as that cockroach was to me, my sin was infinitely more disgusting to a holy God. Unconfessed sin is a cancer. And just like cancer, it will not go away unless we deal with it. God is faithful to forgive His errant children when they come to Him in repentance and faith. A clean heart is just a confession away.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10, nkjv). Amen.