When my daughter has played soccer on a rainy day, she has ended up quite muddy herself. She slides in the mud. She runs in the mud. The mud flies as she passes the ball. It is impossible for her to keep clean. Now, let’s say I tell her to take a shower after the game to clean herself up and she tells me she already is clean. Would I believe her? Of course not. She has been playing in the mud and the mud is splattered on her arms, face, legs, back, not to mention covering her shoes. She is obviously in need of a shower.

So why is it that so many Christians want to play in the mud and yet call themselves clean? They make themselves dirty with the things of this world. Ungodly music. Violent movies. Bad Language. Pornography. Sitcoms that mock God and the family.  TV shows filled with adultery, hatred, and lies.  Tobacco, drug, and alcohol abuse. Immodest clothing.  I could go on and on. Somehow Christians have fooled themselves into thinking that they can be clean while playing in the mud.

But it is impossible to be clean while playing in the mud. It goes against all logic. You cannot be clean and pure before God, if your life is filled with the unholy and unclean. If you want to live in the world and do all that the world does and be like the world then that is your choice. But you may want to examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith. Just because you say you are clean doesn’t mean you are. Only God knows. But if you are spending your life in the mud, it may be a sign that you need a shower.

II Corinthians 13:5; I John 2:15

Sometimes we get so tired of all the perceived rules that are in the Bible.   Many are the commands given to us as followers of Jesus Christ and Jesus says if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. (John 14:21).   Something happened to our family awhile ago that made me realize that perhaps many of the commands Jesus gives us are not only for His glory, but also for OUR protection.

We used to have pet rabbits.  One time, when we had just gotten our new baby bunnies, we decided to take them along on a camping trip.  We took along a crate to keep them in.  We had four bunnies along, but when we woke up the next morning, we only had three!  My son’s bunny, Twitches, had disappeared.  He must’ve been small enough to squeeze through the narrow bars.  Unfortunately, Twitches did not know that he was completely safe in his crate.  He didn’t know that he should have been perfectly happy and content.  Instead he longed for adventure (well, at least he longed to get out of the crate!) and so he left the crate only to be eaten or to starve or to drown.  We don’t know what happened to him.  But we were very sad.

This incident reminds me of God’s commandments.  Sometimes we want to leave God’s “crate”.  It’s not a crate you can see, but it is a safety zone, set up by the commandments and laws God has set up in the Bible.  Here are a few examples:  “Do not commit adultery” brings protection and well-being to the family.  “Do not bear false witness” brings peace and love to relationships.  “Honor your father and mother” keeps young people from making the stupid mistakes their parents made and learned from.  These are just a few examples.

We are safe in God’s safety zone, but often we aren’t content and we want to do things outside of this zone.  We don’t know what God knows – that He has set up most of these rules and laws for our own benefit.  He has set them up to protect us and to give us the most peaceful  life possible here on earth.

And yet so many of us are just like Twitches.  We long for release from the “safety zone”.  We want to experience the WORLD and its passions, not realizing that we are going to only end up hurting ourselves.  May we cast aside our rebellious spirits and submit ourselves to God…which is the only way we will ever experience peace on this earth.

Exodus 20: 1-7; John 14:21