Guess where that’s from. Yep. A laundromat. I was walking down Maple Avenue one day on my prayer walk. On the opposite side of the street from the Federal Building is a laundromat. I don’t know what it’s called other than “The Laundromat.” Anyway. I was bebopping along and I happened to glance over at the laundromat. This is what I saw right through the front window, plain as day. SOAP. BLEACH. SOFTENERS. I immediately thought of myself. How clean am I, not how clean I am. Not physically clean like, do I have dirt on my face, or is there a stain on my dress. Clean as in my heart – cleanliness is next to godliness, right?
Is that in the Bible? Nope. So, where’d it come from? It is alleged to have come from a sermon by John Wesley in 1778. To be exact, “Slovenliness is no part of religion. Cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness.” Break it down, Beth. Slovenliness means untidy or unclean in appearance or habits. At first glance, it could sound like Mr. Wesley was being a little pharissical (is that a word?). Remember the Pharisees who thought the act of outer cleanliness (following all the rules) led to God. But Wesley wasn’t talking about our physical cleanliness, he was talking about cleanliness of the heart.
What Wesley was really getting at was the kind of cleanliness that actually is next to Godliness. A clean heart. Wait, I have a clean heart, don’t I? I’m nice, sometimes. I do good things, sometimes. I’m not such a bad person, sometimes. Does my heart need to be cleaned? Yep. It’s pretty scroungy. But you’re not alone, we all need to be cleansed from the dirt and filth that is in our hearts. What’s that dirt and filth called? Sin. We all got it, we all need to get rid of it. We were born with the need for cleansing. All our hearts need cleansed. Why our hearts? Because that’s where it all starts. Look what Jesus says to Peter:
“Don’t you understand?” Jesus asked him. “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes out of the body. But evil words come from an evil heart and defile the person who says them. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all other sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands could never defile you and make you unacceptable to God.” Matthew 15:16-20
Here, Jesus is teaching about inner purity, purity of the heart, cleanliness of the heart, not washing your hands before eating lunch. If our words, our actions, our deeds, come from the heart. Guess where sin comes — from our heart.
It looks to me like I could use a good scrubbing, how about you? How does it happen? How do we get clean? We go to the laundromat. The Laundromat of Christ Jesus. You see, He’s the only way to a clean heart. He shed His blood so that we could be pure, clean, decontaminated, dissolved of sin. His blood in exchange for our sin. His blood pardons our sins. His blood shed for me. His crimson blood shed to clean my wretched heart.
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 1 John 1:8-9
Not only does Jesus’ blood cleanse us from all sin, once and for all, the cleansing blood is also transformative. It causes a lasting change.
Ahhh…do you feel cleaner already? Then how about a little bleach? What does bleach do? It’s a disinfectant, a deodorizer, and it strips or removes color or stains – it changes, it transforms
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as white as wool.
Isaiah 1:18
There are no permanent stains with Jesus. He can remove even the toughest stain, the red like crimson stain. After the stain of our sins is removed, real transformation can take place. His life’s blood is a balm to our hearts that softens, smooths, calms, quiets, tenderizes and gets rid of the rough edges.
Soap. Bleach. Softeners. All this can happen because of the blood of Christ Jesus. I say can because Jesus doesn’t go where uninvited. He will not cleanse your heart because it looks dirty. He will only do so if you ask Him. So, here’s the question: Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?