I returned home Saturday night after a very busy, fruitful week in St. Louis with the LWML Board of Directors, to a reminder on my laptop that my blog is to be posted Monday. Yikes! The hours had been filled with agendas, strategies, and planning, and I hadn’t even thought about my blog. What do you do when you find you need inspiration? I went to God. He has not failed to show me how He is working in my life.

Sunday morning at church, Rev. Ron Baker’s sermon was titled, “Wash Your Hands” and I was inspired with the following thoughts that I will share with anyone who cares to continue reading.

How many times in your young life did you hear someone say, “Wash your hands?” I was raised on a farm and, as I walked through the door Mom would often shout that phrase. As I grew up, I realized that our home, with a family of seven living in a small farmhouse, was often crowded and messy, but it was always clean — dusted, scrubbed, and sanitized.

Rev. Baker, during his children’s message, talked about washing our hands and then asked the group of children how they clean their heart. He pulled out a toothbrush and asked the kids if that is what they used to wash their heart. They said no. “Well,” he continued, “What about this, (a scrub brush) or this, (a sponge), or this?” (a bottle of sanitizer), and the kids thought maybe Pastor really didn’t know! “We can’t clean our hearts.” Pastor said. “Jesus cleans our hearts! He did that for each of us in baptism.”

Baptism literally means “to immerse.” In Biblical times there was a ceremonial cleansing, but in our baptism, water, together with God’s Word, offers us the miracle of washing away our sins and bringing us into His family. We become His children with all the privileges of belonging to the family of God.

As we continue to live through this pandemic, we are constantly reminded to wash our hands. Liquid soap, bar soap, and hand sanitizer sales remain high. We should be mindful of protecting ourselves and our loved ones from germs and viruses, but let’s always prioritize guarding our hearts against Satan.

We wash our hands using tools such as soap and brushes. I am thinking most everyone reading this has been baptized. Hands get dirty over and over. How do we guard our hearts? God provided the gift of baptism, and He continues to bless us with the gift of His Word. This is a “tool” we need to employ constantly. The Bible points us to Christ, gives us guidance for our lives, inspires us to pray and praise our Father, equips us in witnessing and listening, and teaches us patience and boldness. It’s our weapon against sin, death, and the power of the devil.

I heard this quote but can’t verify the author, “You can live without soap but not without hope!” Wash your hands, my friends — but more importantly, be in the Word.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

Today, and always, we are surrounded by HIS grace,
Debbie