I have a white car. I have always heard people say that white cars do not show dirt as well as other colors. I have never really thought that, but I guess from a distance the car still looks white even when it’s not clean. However, on closer inspection, the dirt can clearly be seen.
I washed my car this past Saturday morning. I had not washed it in several weeks and after the rain and storms we had for several days, it looked quite unclean from all the dirt spraying up off the road. I generally keep the inside clean. I make sure any trash I have in the car is cleaned out every time I return home. I even use towels to cover the seats to protect them if I have worked out and have become dirty and sweaty.
As I washed the car and began to see the big difference between the brightness of the white, clean parts and the dirtiness of the unclean parts, I began to think about spiritual things. As Christians, when we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, He washes away our sin and we become white as snow. Our hearts and souls are forever sealed. He is continually sanctifying us, just as I continually keep the inside of my car clean. His blood covers and protects us just as my towels protect my seats.
But the outside is a little different. We still have our sinful nature that we have to deal with every day. We still sin and get dirty. Storms come and when we have to fight the attacks of Satan, we can get “muddied” up. That’s like my white car. It’s always going to be white, but it gets dirty through daily travels and storms that cause dirt to splash on it. From a distance, we may appear to others that we have things all together, just like my car looks clean from a distance. But up close, we know when things are not right, not clean. It’s then that Christ can wash us as we keep returning to Him for cleansing.
Peter was taught this in the following passage.
John 13:1-11 (NKJV)
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
Scofield’s Reference Notes says this about verse 10:
[1] “So the believer is cleansed as before the law from all sin “once for all” Hebrews 10:1-12 but needs ever to bring his daily sins to the Father in confession, that he may abide in unbroken fellowship with the Father and with the Son 1 John 1:1-10. The blood of Christ answers forever to all the law could say as to the believer’s guilt, but he needs constant cleansing from the defilement of sin;”
(The verses referenced above are at the bottom of the page.)
Once we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we are His forever. Our insides, our hearts, are covered in His blood and when God the Father sees us, He sees His Son’s blood. Therefore, we are free and clean from our sins before Him.
But on the outside, we still get dirty. We have to continually come before Christ asking for forgiveness. It’s an on-going process, just as I have to keep washing my car to keep it clean. So the next time you see a white car, stop and ask yourself – “What does my exterior look like?”
Hebrews 10:10-14 NKJV
10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
1 John 1:5-10 (NKJV)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.