Daily Devotional

Have you ever felt really dirty? I've never felt dirtier in all my life than when I went through the Crucible. Recruits during boot camp must endure a 54-hour training event known as the Crucible in order to earn the title of "Marine". The training includes three hikes (5k, 10k, and 15k ending with the reaper) with a 70-ish-pound pack, obstacle courses, and night training exercises that require crawling through the cold sloppy mud. Recruits only get 2.5 MREs (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) that must be rationed out over two and a half days. What little sleep you do get is of course outside with your popup tent that fits an adult ever so snuggly. And of course, no showers. We smelled so badly at the end of that, I felt bad for the chow hall workers that were in our presence as we celebrated our completion with the "Warriors Breakfast". The food was absolutely delicious but a close second to that was the shower I finally got to take after being so dirty.

I think no matter who we are, we all have had feelings of being dirty or gross and desperately wanting to be cleaned. Everyone except infants of course. Most infants could care less about being dirty. I have had first-hand experience with this recently. Our 15-month daughter Lily tries to get in the trash, tries in the toilet, and she's tried to eat dirt. I mean you name it she's been in it. It seems they find themselves in some of the most compromising situations in regard to their hygiene without a care in the world. They don't care about being clean. Yet, over time, we develop an understanding that being dirty is wrong and have the desire to be clean.

Spiritually, we can experience the same thing. We want to be clean but get caught in the same sin again and again, leaving us feeling filthy or gross. Worse off, we could be like the infant who doesn't recognize their need to be cleaned. Yet regardless, we all need to be spiritually cleaned and while we can't do that on our own, God gives us a way to be cleaned through Jesus. The Bible tells us in Romans 3 that although everyone sins, Christ's sacrifice demonstrates God's righteousness and justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:23-26). If you're struggling to feel clean, ask yourself, "Has Jesus made me clean?" It is through His blood and righteousness that our hearts are made clean. May the Psalmist's prayer be our hearts' desire, "Create in me a pure heart, O God".