Cleansed

Back in March 2009, I had the extreme privilege of going on a short-term missions trip with Amazon River Churches (ARC) to the Amazon jungle in Brazil.  We traveled by boat to a remote little village called Arumanduba. Our main mission was to build a church for the community of believers who lived there. That is a wonderful story for another time!

Once the church was built, we had the pleasure of taking a mini-speed boat ride to visit the neighbors and invite them to the inaugural service. The custom over there is that instead of knocking on someone’s door, you clap as you approach their house as a way of announcing your arrival.

In one of the houses we visited, there was a man and a few of his friends who seemed very excited to see us. During that visit, the man invited our group to see the well he had in his backyard. Not realizing how far we would be walking, we thought nothing of leaving our shoes by the front door. We ended up walking quite a distance barefoot, over a make-shift walkway made out of long, thin tree trunks. Thankfully, it wasn’t so high, but it was still quite a balancing act. When we arrived at the well, we rested and our host was kind enough to cut down some coconuts from a nearby tree and split them open for us to drink.

While that was all quite an experience in itself, one of the things that stood out to me the most from that home visit was watching the man pour the filthy well water into a water filter he had in his home and watching the murky water instantly come out clear of impurities and clean enough to drink. Amazing!

As I watched the gunk being transformed into drinking water, I got a picture of what happens when someone is born again so I shared it with one of the men there. I told him that that is what happens when we give our lives to Christ.  We give Jesus our junk, our mess, our sins, our brokenness and His precious blood wipes away our sins and cleanses us and restores us and makes us brand new.  Now that is truly awesome!

Today, if you are struggling with old ways of thinking and living, I would like to remind you that as a born-again Christian, you are a new creation! You are a blood-bought, redeemed child of the Most High God! Don’t let the enemy fool you! There is no sin too awful that the blood of Jesus can’t wipe away! That is His promise to us!

If you’re just starting to learn more about Jesus, I invite you to visit http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/ or the Info for New Believers/Seekers page.

I’m proud to be joining Bonnie’s Faith Jam this week!