Gold Nugget
Verse 12: “There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness.”
Commentary
I have raised both boys and girls.
The girls I still struggle with understanding. I had 5 sisters and yet to me,
women are still the most complicated of God’s creation. Boys on the other hand
are as predictable to me as the winner of a Harlem Globetrotters game. I’ve
raised my sons and to this day miss the days when they were the little rascals
that used to make me angry on the outside and laugh on the inside at their many
calamities and schemes. To this day, when I see a young man with his young sons,
I wish for those days again. I have grandsons now and enjoy a second wave when they are at Poppy’s house.
One
of the things that I remember so well is the boys at bath time. While I had to pester
my daughters about the amount of water they cost me and the time they kept the
bathroom occupied, the boys could be in and out within a couple of minutes and
cost me a mere cup or two of water. Upon the periodical inspection, it was easy
to find that they usually had just wet their hair to try and fool me into
thinking they were clean. If it wasn’t the apparent dirt around their neck and behind
their ears, the odor of all day sweat and whatever they climbed through would
prove that they were in fact, still filthy.
After threatening them within an inch of their
lives if they didn't get clean, out would emerge a handsome young man clean enough
even for church. This is much like today’s modern day “Christian” that presents
his self with a wet head assuming he is clean and washed from His sins. Today’s
“gold nugget” teaches us that, “There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its
filthiness.”
My sons thought they were clean in “their
own eyes”, but a true inspection would reveal that they had not really spent any effective time in the shower. Just as today’s Christian dips his head in the water or
even may get baptized in it, only a real relationship with the purifying
cleansing power of the righteousness of God can make him clean. This Christian faith
is a commitment for life and a way of life. Boys will be boys, but a Christian is
not one who denies his filthiness. Instead, he repents of it and allows the Lord to
cleanse him from all impurities.
Prayer
Lord, it’s one thing to play in the mud and roll in the dirt, but it’s another thing to deny the filth. Although it’s my intention to keep from being contaminated by this world, if I do get some of this world on me, I want to admit it quickly and find the mercy and grace that comes through repentance. Amen
Lord, it’s one thing to play in the mud and roll in the dirt, but it’s another thing to deny the filth. Although it’s my intention to keep from being contaminated by this world, if I do get some of this world on me, I want to admit it quickly and find the mercy and grace that comes through repentance. Amen
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How many times have we also been guilty of just getting our hair wet? Having a son of my own now it is so easy to see the remarkable differences between him and his sister. It takes discipline to get truly clean, yet that discipline must come from the Holy Spirit. As a parent I pray that the spirit use me often.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post brother!
Unfortunately we "just get our hair wet" too often. Unfortunate because the Word teaches us if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleans us from all unrighteousness. Why we so often pass on this beautiful promise is beside me. I'm grateful for His love and mercy to shed His grace on this slow learning child!
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