Washed and Cleaned

It might be fair to say that white baseball and softball uniforms are the dirtiest uniforms in sports. White fabric mixed with brown dirt isn’t common anywhere except in sports.

In everyday life, if we were to be outside in the dirt, we would wear darker clothes. Why? White clothes immediately become stained by dirt. However, the sports world continues to wear white because it has found the perfect solution to maintaining the pristine white uniforms. Athletes hand over their uniforms to mothers, fathers, managers and others for a wash, and the uniforms are always returned refreshed and white, ready to be worn again to run, slide and dive.

Our hearts are just like white uniforms: easy to get dirty. If we are truly honest, our hearts are covered in the dirt of sin within one hour of being awake. We are all sinful and all mess up – even Romans 3:23 tells us that! We run, slide and dive into small sins and sometimes big sins. By the end of the day, we are covered in sin’s dirt. Unlike uniforms, a simple wash won’t cleanse us. God has a better way.

God sent Jesus to wear the dirt of all sin and defeat it forever. He did this by dying on the cross, rising three days later, defeating death, and going to heaven. Jesus made a way for all of us to be cleansed and free from the dirtiness of sin. But it doesn’t just happen; we must bring ourselves to Him. Just as athletes must take off their uniforms and physically hand it over to another to be cleaned, we must go to God and confess our sins, allowing Him to take our hearts and clean them.

No matter how many times we sin, God is faithful to forgive us. The dirt never remains on us; He always cleanses us when we bring ourselves to Him. And just like the uniforms, after He is done with us, we are white as snow, brand new and ready for another day He has given us.

We can go to God again and again, asking Him to clean us, and He will never get tired of it. He delights in making us clean, pure, and holy.