I’m gonna take my chances and guess that probably no Christian would ever post as their Facebook status these two words… “I’m dirty.” Yeah, I didn’t think so.
And I’m not talking about, you’ve been in the garden all day… dirty. I’m talking about you- your person, your heart. Out of all the things I’ve heard some Christians post as their Facebook status, “I’m dirty,” is not one of them.
Why is that? Well, the Bible explains it for us.
“All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.”- Prov. 16:2
There’s our answer. We don’t look at the things that WE do- all of our ways- as being dirty. It’s not naturally what we see about ourselves. Our instinct is to justify ourselves and see our ways as pure, right, and clean.
However, when it comes to others, we seem to become experts at locating the dirt in their lives. We talk about the dirty things everyone else does. We know everybody’s dirty business, sins, and flaws thanks to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and the latest gossip. And we don’t just point out their dirt. We can do you one better. We actually get together in a group with our favorite “clean” people, with a cup of our favorite coffee, and discuss the other person and how dirty they are. We mock. Laugh. Jeer. Never once considering ourselves and our own personal dirt. We can’t see our own filthiness. We’re too busy thinking we’re clean. Imagine the lead gossiper in the group stopping mid-gossip and saying, “Hey, instead of talking about her and how dirty she is, let’s talk about me and how dirty I am.” Ha! That would never happen, right? I would like to be a fly on the wall in that room. Just because your Mama thinks you’re clean doesn’t mean you are. And just because your friend tells you you’re amazing doesn’t mean you’re clean.
Now that we’ve burst all the bubbles. Let’s get to what’s real.
The reality is, we’re all dirty, y’all. And I know it’s not what you’re used to hearing, but you gotta hear it. It is what God says about us. Not everyone will agree with God’s word, and that’s okay; He’s not gonna change His word to agree with your feelings. He is a Sovereign God. God doesn’t adjust to us and what we feel; we are to adjust to God and what He says, regardless of how we feel.
The only One who knows how truly dirty we really are is God. The last part of that verse in Proverbs 16:2 says, “but the LORD weigheth the spirits.”
We are self-deceived when we think that how well we do the Christian life, or the fact that we may not have engaged in gross sins like others, makes us morally superior to other Christians. We are self-deceived when we think that our perfect church attendance, faithful Bible reading, and following all the “rules,” making us look good on the outside, means we are clean.
We’re not. The Bible says…
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all of our righteousness is as filthy rags.”- Isaiah 64:6
Even the good we try to do, is unclean and polluted.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”- I John 1:8
If we want to be real about who we are, let’s start by admitting that we are sinful. If we can’t admit that, we’re liars. So, still sinful.
God, who is just, weighs our spirits. Because our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, there’s no way we can accurately evaluate ourselves, so we must go to God about ourselves. He knows the truth. Let me be honest with you, for me, one of the hardest things to do is to go to God about myself. I know that if I ask God to show me myself, He will do it. I cringe and wait for the response. I don’t naturally like to hear what’s wrong with me. But if I ever want to grow up in my Christian life, I must learn to make it a habit to always go to God about me and learn to hear and see the ugly things that are in my heart, that shouldn’t be there.
Let me encourage you today, to get your eyes off of others and humble yourself before God.
Ask God to show you who you really are and how dirty you are. He’ll show you. Right? Ask, and ye shall receive? Don’t ask Him to show you your friend’s dirt or your enemy’s big pile of dirt. Look inward at your own heart. And be ready because you may find out that there are dirty things that are lurking in your heart that you didn’t even know existed.
Stay in the Word. Let it read you, investigate you, and interrogate you. And when God reveals your dirt, don’t be like Adam and Eve, playing the blame game. Don’t be like King Saul. He blamed everyone else when confronted with his sin. Be like King David. When He was confronted with his sin, he said some of the hardest six words it takes any Christian to say… “I have sinned against the LORD.” (II Samuel 12:13). For a long time, King David was self-deceived and blind to his own mess. But God opened his eyes and showed David who he really was.
It took humility and brokenness to admit his dirty sins. All of that pomp and circumstance; the royal robe, the popularity, his reputation, and the crown- meant nothing to David once his eyes were opened, and he saw his sin as God saw it. He was remorseful for what he had done against the Lord and was quick to repent and get right with the Lord. one of the sweetest passages of Scripture is Psalm 51. A Psalm that David wrote after Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to they lovingkindness: According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness;
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart , O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Restore unto me the joy of my salvation.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt no despise. – Psalm 51:1-4, 7, 9-10, 12, 17
I pray that we, as Christian women, would spend time asking God to show us ourselves. I don’t know one lady who doesn’t look in the mirror at some time during the day. Let’s keep it real… several times a day. Why? Because we want to make sure that we don’t have anything out of place- hair, makeup, clothes. We should do the same with our spiritual life. That means taking the time to open God’s Word, take a look in the mirror of the word of God, and see what’s dirty and out of place. If we don’t spend time looking in the mirror of God’s Word, we’ll stay dirty and move further away from God. Let’s get clean so we can draw close to God, move forward, and grow in our relationship with Him.
Thank you for reading.
Love and hugs,
