“Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3
In William Shakespeare’s
“Macbeth,” Lady Macbeth, being accomplice to the murder of King Duncan, soon begins to feel the repercussions of her deeds. After washing the blood from her hands, she begins to imagine that it stains her hands still, crying not only her famous curse against its spot, but also, “... Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” An oft overlooked but very telling line by her physician arguably speaks more to truth than any of Shakespeare’s more famous quotes: “More needs she the divine than the physician.”
One thing we like to tell ourselves, and that we hear often, is that “Deep down, most people are basically good. However, God tells us that in reality, the obverse is true: “...For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” There is one, and only one, source of goodness...God Himself.
So often we hear about how important it is to mind what we allow into our bodies for our health’s sake, so that arteries, for example, do not become clogged and hardened, or our hearts overburdened. But how often do we pay as much attention in that same way regarding our souls?
In Greek mythology, it was said that the Sirens (half woman, half bird) played enchanting music and sang songs that compelled sailors to shipwreck themselves upon the rocky coast. Ulysses was said to have overcome this by having his men plug their ears with beeswax, having himself tied to the mast and ordering them not to untie him no matter how he pleaded. Orpheus too, survived, but did so by playing music so surpassingly beautiful as to drown out the Sirens’ songs.
We can do both. We can avoid many situations or places that we know will entice us toward our “pet sins.” We can filter what we choose to see on our computers and TVs, and what music and conversation in which we engage. And in a world where we are incessantly barraged with violent and prurient images and messages at almost every turn, we can instead pro-actively fill our thoughts and hearts instead with truth, goodness and purity. Simply put, God’s Word.
Left to our own desires, we will naturally gravitate toward “thirsting” for the things that seem immediately satisfying. But when we realize that bodily desires never seek goodness, we too often acknowledge this too late.
There is One who never ceases to gently call for us, and to love us...who freely gives “life giving water” by which we will never thirst again. Water can wash many things away externally, but in Christ Jesus, we are cleansed not only by His shed blood for us, but as He tells us, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you....”
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