Imagine you are walking along the way and suddenly fall into a puddle of muck. There you are, stained and yucky – what a mess. What if someone came along and said they could clean you right up? Would you take them up on that offer? I know I would.

We have all fallen at some point in our lives. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Yet, everyone can be cleaned up spiritually. The apostle Peter spoke plainly of this when he wrote “There is also an antitype which now saves us–baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” (1 Peter 3:21-22) If the Lord sees you on your back, wallowing in the mud, what would He tell you to do? Get up out of the mire!! You must hear (Rom. 10:17), believe (Heb. 11:6), repent (Acts 17:30), confess Jesus as the Christ (Matt. 10:33), and be baptized – and you will be cleansed spiritually (Acts 2:38, 22:16).

Now that’s a big deal to us as sinners, but it’s not the biggest deal to God. Don’t get me wrong – these elements are essential to salvation (John 3:3-5, Mark 16:15-16). The bigger deal for God, however, is for us to commit our lives to Him! Once He cleanses us – if we then happen to stumble and get a little stained – God can clean us up again if we confess, repent, and pray (1 John 1:9; Acts 8:22)! But what do you suppose God will think if we get cleaned up – only to continue jumping right back into the mire? The Lord has indeed spoken of this, “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:21-22)

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter exhorts the Christian, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul…” (1 Peter 2:9-11) Let us remember what the Lord has done for us, and therefore live in such a way as to glorify and honor Him.