Image by eiratansey via Flickr
I like any job that lets me take it from chaos to order, from messy to neat, or from dirty to clean. There's just so much satisfaction in such a process! Washing dishes (by hand of course) is the prime example. The used dishes are a dirty, disorderly pile of germs and useless clutter, but within short order can be transformed into a ready stack of practical, hygienic utensils.
The real value in all of this for me is the analogy potential. I think about washing, and what it means, and what it means for me. Washing, according to merriam-webster(definition 6a in the link below), is separating.
http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wash
When I apply soap and water to a dirty plate the stuck on foodstuff gets separated, and goes down the drain. So as I wash, I think about how Christ separates my sin from my spirit! It is said that we are 'washed in the blood'. My first thought there has always been 'yuck!'. Wouldn't all that blood just make you stained red? And that's not very clean. But when an ore is 'washed' in a chemical bath the valued mineral is separated out while the washing agent flows away with the waste.
The same holds true for we who submit to being 'washed in the blood'. It is only the shed blood of the sinless Savior that has the capacity to separate the dirt of my sin from the image of God created in me. The blood doesn't just pour over me and soak me till I'm stained red; it does a separating, and thus saving, work in me that makes me new and prepared to go into God's presence.
So yeah. I like to wash dishes. But I would also like you to wash the dishes!
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Mike, in the first "washing dishes" writing, you mentioned how you could pile them up. Then, on another "washing dishes" episode, you put up this pitiful photo which doesn't do justice to the art of piling wishes (but I'm sure you're aware of that. I think our pile was about 12" x 14" wide and at least a foot or 1.5 feet tall. I remember finding a way to balance a pan on the oddest and smallest surface. But you know, I think for all of us, we could have simply dried a few things and put them away to make room, but who wanted to do that???
ReplyDeleteWell written! Washed in the blood, and unlike dirty dishes, my soul does not have to attract that kind of dirt again. The Lord is still scouring the small stains from this once greatly soiled soul.
ReplyDeleteYou can come wash dishes at my house anytime you'd like.
ReplyDeleteJoyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com
I hate washing dishes but I love this analogy. I never understood that to wash meant to sepearate. You have given me a new understanding and appreciation of what it means to be washed in His blood. Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso thanks for linking up for the Flashback. Link up every Friday on Chasing Joy.
Thanks CJ! Yours is the best comment I ever received! To find out that I accomplished my very goal is highly gratifying.
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