One of the things that is promised is the clean sweep.
That last person left a right mess – is the assertion. You cannot trust that last person if they have a mess on their hands. You need someone who will make a clean sweep of things.
Versions of that appeal are made, not just in political campaigning. Advertising is kinda based on a promise that you won’t be in as much of mess in life if you take on the service or purchase the product.
It’s a lovely idea that something that come in and have a clean sweep to take out all the mess. Of course the reality is that the very best efforts by humans at a clean sweep only produces a partial sweep. It’s like the issue of sweeping one area of the room and doing a brilliant job of it … whilst putting the stuff swept up to put away in another area of the room. So a lot of life just comes across as well meaning and carefully managed mess rearrangement.
That kind of rule is on offer if you wish.
The other kind of rule that is offered has something to do with the remarkable claim to truly experience someone who can offer a brand new life based on the Spirit of holiness and righteousness cleaning out the dust, murkiness, stains and deeply rooted dirt of everything that pollutes. This rule acknowledges that messy people tend to at best rearrange the mess and focus on the less messy areas. What is needed to address that is not just shifting the mess again, but growing in appreciation of the spotless one who really is able to clean and make completely pure.
It is an extraordinary claim for sure. After all, the crutch that many want to rely on is the thought that being messy is just the human condition and nothing can be done about it. Yet the claims of Jesus is of a life that was lived without sin. The claims of Jesus is that He lived a holy and righteous life as a man. Not only that, but He was killed in a manner reserved for the worst criminals in the time. A perfect man killed in the most inhumane way available. Not just brutally killed, but then triumphantly rising from death. His life and service on earth revealed to those who observed it what it was to live a righteous life. The death accomplished much by the shedding of blood. The resurrection accomplished much for the promise held in it. The promise that ongoing faith in Him would clean us of what makes the mess from within. There’s also the promise that the ongoing faith in the risen one will result in being just like the Risen One not just as an experience that goes on inside, but one that is clearly recognised with a brand new body just like the Risen One.
The element of ongoing faith is believing that He is and that He rules. His rule is one of righteousness, truly cleaning up the mess within and cleaning up our capacity to mess up so that we’re all the more desirous and equipped to live in a way that works towards the purity of the Risen One. This is not just a claim made verbally. It is one that ever since His resurrection has been attested by men and women who dedicated their lives to the point of death about this truth. Attested by witnesses and by those who would follow in their example to focus on the Risen One’s claim to rule – and rule in a right way that allows those who used to live in a mess to now hunger and thirst for that which is right.
The choice is then laid out for consideration. Some can think that their own standard of what’s right can absolve them of any mess they might have. Some can prefer to look for solutions in themselves and get wrapped up again in offering sophisticated and compelling offers of mess rearrangement. Some can go with the remarkable claims of the righteous risen one.
It’s up to you to consider which can offer the clean sweep.
(Photo by James Ahlberg on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 