This post is inspired by my late stepdad, Curt. I miss you…
Curt’s denim jacket has been hanging in the laundry room since he died in ’06. I have looked at it every day, but for some reason I felt particularly drawn to it today. I took the jacket off of the hanger, running my hand up and down the sleeves, fingering the collar as I remembered how he looked wearing it. While most of his things had been sent to the professional cleaners, this jacket was washed at home with his jeans and still smelled of Tide and Downy. I put my nose to it and sniffed – hey, we’ve already established that I am a little weird – and was surprised that I could also smell hints of the cigarettes he used to smoke.
You can stop doing worldly things, spruce yourself up as best you can, even go to church for years, but if you haven’t let God “clean” you, the stench of sin is still in every fiber of your being. You’d be like that jacket: look clean, in a place of cleaning, and still reek. There are some things that only God can do. Ask Him to cleanse you today.
