My job at the funeral home entails quite a bit of cleaning. While it has never been my favorite thing, I've grown to appreciate the satisfaction of seeing real, tangible change. A dusty shelf becoming clean. Immediate results. My tasks include vacuuming, dusting, and wiping down every object in the washroom, but none is more daunting than washing cars during the winter. As I walk into the garage, I no longer see the blue mini van that usually sits there, but instead, rests a faded white remnant, encrusted in salt, ice, and road grime. However, it is my job to make sure that the van is spotless, returned to it's original state and all of its navy blue glory. As I begin the task, I take careful steps to make sure that every inch of the car has been soaked with water, scrubbed with soap, rinsed, and dried. I want to please my boss, so I take care to check a second time to make sure that I didn't leave any spot blemished. Success. Unfortunately, tomorrow is a new day with a new layer of salt poured on the roads.
If only I spent the same amount of time, energy, and effort in my own life, to present myself spotless to God!
"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him." 2 Peter 3:14
The minute I read this verse earlier today, I felt convicted. Make every effort to be found spotless. Every effort. To state the obvious, this is not a call to check in once a day and see how well our fight with sin has been. This is a call to do everything we possibly can in order to be without sin and at peace with God.
My own life seems wrought with sin at times. Probably because it is. I am a hypocrite. Of course, I'm not alone in this, as we all are hypocritical to some extent, but sometimes it seems to be exponentially worse in my own life. I proclaim that I care about people and want to see the end of injustice, inequality, poverty, and violence in this world, but I never actually take any steps to see that happen, besides signing the occasional online petition or sharing a link on Facebook to alert everyone of how much I care. I tell people that we are saved through our faith in Jesus and his death on the cross, but I struggle to shake the performance mentality that prevents me from fully grasping the grace that God has freely given to me. I would say in a heartbeat that I desire to tell people about the gospel so that they can experience the joy of a relationship with God, but I often cower in fear of what others will think about me, shying away from what I have come to believe is the only source of truth and life.
If I am willing to go the extra mile to present the van as spotless for my earthly boss at the funeral home, how much more effort should I put forth in presenting myself spotless to the one who holds eternity in his hands? Now, of course, I believe that I am already seen as righteous, clean, and without blemish in Jesus. In putting forth effort to be spotless, I will never succeed in getting rid of all of the sin in my life. The righteousness I will need for salvation can only come from the Passover lamb who willingly died on the cross so that I could stand in the presence of God. But in my love and servitude to God, I still want to do what He commands, no matter how imperfectly I may do it.
God says to seek justice (Isaiah 1:17). God says he is faithful to forgive confessed sins (1 John 1:9). Jesus says to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28). To go against the will of God is sin, so according to Peter, I should be making every effort to seek justice, rest in God's faithfulness, and make disciples of all nations.
I can see so much sin in my life, yet there are times when passive indifference is the most attractive approach. Peter, however, does not leave this as a feasible option. He calls Christians to make every effort to fight the sin in our lives so that we can present ourselves as spotless before God. This is not about performing routine checkups. This is about waging a constant, committed war against the many ways in which the enemy entices us.
I am thankful for God's grace, that I do not need to rely on my own effort for salvation. I am a hypocrite. I will forget about this post later tonight, tomorrow, and the day after. I won't spend every effort trying to remain spotless. But my prayer is that in His goodness, God will grant me a continued desire to extend every effort in the fight against sin in my life.
