11.16.17 Prayer Prompt: Lessons From the Laundry

PRAYER PROMPT ••• My grandmother is the only person I know who likes to do laundry.
And my grandmother is weird (I say it in love. I’m weird too, but I don’t like to do laundry).
I think we can all agree; laundry is a vicious, never-ending cycle.

Wash.
Dry.
Fold.
Repeat.

And some of you are crazy enough to add an ironing board to the mix. But there are lessons we can learn from the laundry. Namely, how God repeatedly repeats the process of extending forgiveness to us.

We find ourselves, yet again, bowing before God at the Throne of Grace, confessing our sins, and wondering, “When am I going to get this right? Why do I keep messing up?”

Because, my Friends, we are human.

As the laundry meme goes, “Why do I wake up every morning expecting to conquer the world when I can’t even conquer my laundry?” We can wash, dry, fold, and put all the laundry away, perfectly clean, and then hope it all stays that way.  But we’re going to put on our favorite white shirt, and we’re going to wear it to lunch, and we’re going to spill ketchup down the front.  I’ve done it, and I don’t even like ketchup (that’s a special kind of talent to soil your clothes with food you don’t even eat!)

But God doesn’t expect perfection; He knows that’s impossible for us.

He expects us to let the Holy Spirit mold us to be more like Christ, and He expects us to be humble and surrender to His will.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Friends, like our laundry, we’re sinful creatures who get soiled.  But God’s grace is abundant.  While we can’t freely go sinning about, doing whatever we want, we can trust in God’s ability to make us clean. Reconciliation is a prayer away.

Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Today, as you pray, thank the Holy Spirit for the work He is doing in your life.  Thank Him for molding you to be more like Jesus and ask Him to continue His work.  And thank God for not expecting the unattainable perfection, but extending His grace and forgiveness when we come to Him with true repentance.