“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7

My lovely bride has a different kind of eye than me. If she sees something that doesn’t match or go together, she cannot rest until it is either corrected or out of sight. She can tolerate it… but not peacefully. After all her hard work at Church for Easter, I wanted to do something special for her. But first, I had to use the bathroom! Upon seeing, I was relieved!

It’s funny because everybody has one and uses it several times a day. But no one over 6 years old likes to talk about ‘The Toilet, the potty, the toity! As I stood there looking at ours, it was a mess! Katie had pointed it out several times over the last year, but I didn’t know what she wanted ME to do about it! Then I had a revelation!

Our Toity is old. I have scrubbed it with bowl cleaner repeatedly, and even used lime and scale remover. But nothing on the end of a stick works to rid the ugly scale deposits that remain. Having an idea, a desire and determination… I declared war! With brush, acid and a screwdriver, I got on my knees and my hands began to scrape and chip until… TADAAAA!

Here’s the dirty truth… Sin is Poo! Everybody has it! Even after our old self has been flushed away by Christ’s sacrifice, we still must live with the scaly deposits of stinky, dirty poo. And not just our own. I am often disgustingly affected by what even friends, family and associates leave behind. Scraping my own bowl, I realized HOW I deal with it… matters!

I found this picture today by typing ‘gold toilet’ into Google! Even as I did, I didn’t have much hope. But I was SHOCKED because, what I thought was a joke, is something many people will spend lots of money to acquire! Seeing ‘Gold Toilet’ paper in the search, I realized that the same arrogance that runs through some, runs through me! I don’t like it!

Psalm 51 is David’s plea to God for forgiveness after the whole Bathsheba affair. Trying to rid himself of the stench left behind proved only to make things worse. Arrogance and shame outran his ability to cope when he affirmed that the ONLY way to become clean was to face God and accept whatever punishment He would require. At least God is merciful!

I have a lot of experience in cleaning a dirty heart! Though my poo has been cleared, I am not completely clean. The process of Sanctification requires cooperation with The Holy Spirit. Hyssop was a switch from a tree used to apply the lamb’s sacrificial blood to the doorposts at Passover. And though we don’t use them today, eradicating ugly spots from sin is still an ongoing, painful and required process.

After it was clean, I couldn’t resist. I decided to go buy a new seat as well. Which makes perfect sense! In the sin eradication business, I can’t sit on my own throne and clean it at the same time! What a humbling thought!

So…. how clean and stink free are you… Really!