"Reach for the Bleach"

1st Thessalonians 5.23-24 NIV

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

We made a mistake when we built our home. My wife and I ordered white tile and white grout for our kitchen countertops. The tile stayed white but the grout collected dirt like a magnet. We bleached it back to its original white again and again but it always turned very dark, very quickly. After speaking to a host of homeowners and tile professionals and attempting every known remedy, I eventually concluded it was time to tear it out. No amount of sealing, scrubbing, cleaning, or bleaching would provide a lasting solution. We decided to replace our tile with Formica, Corian® , or a slab of granite.

Clorox® did the trick... temporarily. The bleach solution seeped into the filthy grout, killed the bacteria, and whitened the space between the tiles. Interestingly, the tile grime became most noticeable just before the arrival of guests, a condition which always inspired us to reach for the bleach.

I’m glad God never stops working to whiten the dirty grout in the crevices of my soul. He apparently thinks I’m worth saving and has no intention of replacing me with someone of superior granite-like character. He never compares me to the Formica Christians who clean up better than me. The flaws of my past are deep and evident to all. They don’t easily polish out in like the superficial marks on a Corian® surface. I’m a regular tile and grout kind of believer. A real maintenance nightmare. I work to keep clean, yet while I attract sin like a magnet, the blood of Christ seeps into every crack and cranny of my dark being and restores me to like-new standards.

One future day, according to the Bible, I will be fully sanctified. “He will do it.”

“…for it is God who is at work in you.”

Paul, Philippians 2.13 NIV

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
Jesus, John 17.17 NASU

“May God himself… sanctify you through and through.”
Paul, 1st Thessalonians 5.23 NIV

“The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
Paul, 1st Thessalonians 5.24 NIV

None of my faculties remain immune or hidden from the bleaching action of His cleansing work... my spirit, soul, heart, mind, will, emotions, conscience, intuition, and body. God is sanctifying all of me “through and through.”

One day, by God’s grace, I will be “blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What a day that will be!