September 18, 2018 – Isaiah 1:16

Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Isaiah 1:16.

The first bath our baby has is an event. As the baby grows, the baths have to be strongly encouraged and taught.  It becomes a battle until the need for a good wash seems desirable and expedient.  

Just as a parent enjoys the fresh cleanliness of a baby from a bath, so does our Lord enjoy holding us, His Children, when our hearts are clean from sin.  Psalm 51:10 – Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

Just as a young person learns cleanliness is to be desired. We learn our Lord wants us to put sin-dirt away from us by washing. Jesus died on the cross, to be our sacrifice, and He showed us the example of washing our sins away through baptism – in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Learning to do good, seeking justice and helping the oppressed is included in Love One Another. This is truth.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.  1 Peter 1:21-23. 

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans.  Fight for the rights of widows.  Isaiah 1:17.