I'm in the land of the sticky

Yesterday I had some special time with our youngest.  As a family we try to carve out individual time for each kid with my husband and I and we call it a "special date."   So our youngest is four and the things that come out of his mouth are quite comical.  Constantly. 

For example, we pull into a parking lot yesterday and had to drive slowly around a giant goose.  He looks at it and says, "Hey Mom, a goose...just like Duck-duck-goose...now my head wants to play duck duck goose."  If he thinks something he says it...and it cracks me up.

Needless to say, we are training him that speaking your mind is only good when it honors God.  After all, our thoughts aren't all good, and therefore everything we think we shouldn't necessarily speak.  We have to filter our thoughts through what God's word tells us is speech that honors Him and then choose our words carefully.  But, at four, for the most part his unfiltered thoughts are pretty entertaining.

So after our errands, he asked for a Cliff Bar and proceeded to eat it on the way home.  As I looked at him in the rearview mirror I realized he was enjoying the bar immensely.  He locks eyes with me and says, "Mommy it's like I'm in the land of the sticky...a sticky mess and I'm going to need a wipe again."

After laughing to myself...I kept thinking over his words.  Isn't sin just like the 'land of the sticky"  It becomes a sticky mess that ensnares us, gets us dirtier than we'd ever want to be and most definitely creates a need for a cleansing.  Proverbs 5:22 tells us, "The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin."  God calls for holiness in our lives, lives cleansed from sin.  That cleansing can only come from Jesus.  We can grab at 'wipes' the world offers to clean up our own messes....but it's not until our soul cries out, "Create in me a pure heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me" as David did in Psalm 51:10 that the Lord Himself will take away all the 'stickiness' of sin, all the shame, the guilt, the failures.

The older I get and the longer I walk with the Lord, I am absolutely stunned by the depths of the cross.  Christ's intentional sacrifice to cleanse our sins.  He chose to provide forgiveness for us and He didn't stop there, He washed our sins away, cleansed us from all the residual stickiness and stands us up on solid ground.  He redeems the sinner, and He grants us grace and favor to honor Him even in the midst of our sinful flesh.  He takes up residence in our hearts through the Holy Spirit and enables us to chose not to sin.

Next time you're tempted to get into a sticky mess of sin or when the log is removed from your eye and you come to agree with God that you are struggling with a sin simply cry out to Him, just as David did.   He will forgive, restore and redeem.  That's our God.  He is a God of restoration, healing, redemption and forgiveness. 

It feels good to be cleansed from all the stickiness.