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Old 02-28-2010, 11:04 AM   #1
Faithwalker012
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Status: Broken Dream
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A Dream I Had Years Ago

In this dream, people, including me and my family, but people are in heaven. I would have never imagined heaven to be a laundromat, but in my dream there are a bunch of washing machines and people are washing or putting their clothes in them. Seemed to be t-shirts mostly, but I digress.

Anyway, people have dirty clothes, clothes with holes in them, and they're putting them in these washing machines, where a red liquid inside is used to clean them. The clothes come clean, shirts with big holes in them are made to be like new.

What did this mean? Well, I don't know. But I do know how I interpreted it.

Our lives, our very souls even you might say, can get very messy and dirty, and even be torn apart by the things we do, by the mistakes we make, by our sins against our Heavenly Father. Even just living in this world, say we don't sin, or disregarding personal sin for the moment, living in a world where so many others do sin, the same thing can happen. A dirty, messy, and torn life that leaves us hurting.

So then, how do we deal with it? How do most people in this world who say either don't know Jesus or are rejecting Jesus, how do they deal with that dirty, torn life, that torn soul that leaves them empty and hurting? They go out and they try to cover it up with something, or clean it up with something on their own. If their life is torn, maybe they try to repair the holes or fill the holes with things in this world that seem like fun while we're here, but which ultimately amount to nothing, and really all amounts to vanity, or emptiness, to quote Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes. They go out and party, they go out with their friends, they go out and maybe have no problem at all finding dates, boyfriends, girlfriends, or even "flings". They make sure they're the life of the party, they're always smiling, laughing, trying to make sure everyone is having fun. But then what happens when they get alone? When they're no longer around those people and don't have them and those situations to temporarily fill the holes in their life, they're back to feeling pain again. Or if not pain, emptiness... sadness, worry, and just not feeling fulfilled. You know, it's human to feel those things and we all do or all have felt some or all of those things ourselves. But the main point being, the holes in their lives, in their heart and soul, are only filled temporarily. There's no lasting fulfillment, no lasting peace of mind. Talk to a person who doesn't believe in Jesus and who isn't saved and ask them how they're doing or how their day has been. And they might actually tell you, "Man, today has been great!" And you say, "Wow, that's fantastic, glad to hear it. So how's tomorrow going to go?" And they'll probably say, "Well I don't know." See, that's the thing. It's a day to day cycle, a day to day roller coaster. Up and down, up and down... and again that's part of life in a sense. Christians don't know what the future holds either, not even as near into the future as the next day, or even the next hour. But they do know and they do believe in someone who does. That's the key to peace of mind, real and lasting peace of mind and fulfillment... to be able to say, "You know what, I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring, but I'm ready for it Lord, because you do know, and even if there's anything that might go wrong, I know You're still going to be there to pull me through. It's not easy. It takes faith. But I'm again reminded of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, who gave us a very clear picture throughout that you can spend a lifetime working for yourself, working for your family so that you can leave them something when you pass on, but without God it's all just emptiness, it's all vanity. There's still that hole there. When you're dead and buried, or when the flesh is dead and buried, maybe you'll be remembered, maybe you won't. In Ecclesiastes 9:4 it says a living dog is better than a dead lion. Now a lion is a great beast, king of the jungle and whatnot. But when it dies, it's nothing but a dead, decaying animal. You can be a workaholic, you can be the life of the party, you can work to establish whatever you want to try to establish, whatever you want people to think of you, but when you're dead, at some point a lot of them, maybe they won't forget you, but to a lot of them you'll be just another person who passed through this world. "Yeah he did some good things, but so did a lot of other people before and after him." Vanity... emptiness...you can work your whole life to be great, and then you're dead and gone and the people who you tried to impress move on to something else, to someone else. Those who don't believe in a God say "We only have one life and then we're done, so do the best you've got with it." But unfortunately that kind of attitude still doesn't come close to filling those holes. There is still emptiness and vanity it that.

So, that's how some try to fill the holes. How do they then try to remove the dirt? I think it's obvious. We all have a conscience, and even those who are not Christians know many times when they do something wrong. So what happens? Well they try to "clean it up" by doing something good, something right... good works. Now I know most all of you have heard it referenced in the bible that our good deeds or our righteousness is as filthy rags, and of course that is mentioned in Isaiah 64:6. Now you have to read it and take it in the proper context. It's not saying don't do righteous acts or that righteous acts are in and of themselves filthy rags. Your righteous acts or your good works weave the fine linen that clothes you in the eternity, as it states in Revelation 19:8. There's a couple of ways to look at the verse in Isaiah 64:6. First of all it's a prayer to God and it mentions their righteousness, but it also mentions their sin, their iniquities. So I think we could say that in their present state of sin even their righteousness is as filthy rags.

But too, in comparison to God, or apart from God, I don't want to say our good deeds don't mean anything. But do they stack up to or compare favorably to the righteousness of God? Of course they don't. We need to understand too that works don't save us.

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

Ephesians 2:9 "Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Not of works, lest any man should boast. See, a man can't say "Oh yes, I did that. I did these great wonderful things, and I have given myself salvation through my works."

No you haven't. You've been given salvation, if you've chosen to partake of it through God's mercy and grace, and through your acceptance of that gift and belief in the One who paid that awesome price so you could obtain it.

You see, it all comes back to that "red liquid" in that washing machine. It comes back to the blood of Jesus Christ. "What, wash myself in blood, that's not going to work." Well, yes it will. That's not something you literally do of course. Don't be getting any crazy ideas kids. But it is something you figuratively do. Because you see, that blood, and the shedding of that blood is what put a halt to animal sacrifices as atonement for sin. You don't find a calf to kill and burn on some altar. You just say, "Father, I'm sorry" in the name of Jesus, and that sin, whatever it was, is erased from the book. You don't follow a ritual, you just go to Him. That blood and the shedding of that blood is what rent the veil to the very Holy of Holies to where you don't need a mediator or a go between to reach or talk to God. That blood and the shedding of that blood, that crucifixion and resurrection is what bruised the very head of Satan himself, the serpent. He bruised Christ's heel when they nailed Him to that cross and crucified Him. But upon His resurrection, He crushed the very head of Satan, because He conquered and defeated death not only for Himself, but for any and all who would believe upon Him.

You see, you can't fill the holes in your own life. You can't clean up your own dirt, speaking spiritually and when it comes to salvation. But there is one who can. It all comes back to that red liquid, that blood, shed by Jesus Christ. He's it, friends. Either you have Him, either you've allowed your life to be washed, cleansed, and repaired figuratively with His shed blood, or you just have a whole lot of vanity. Here today, but maybe gone and forgotten tomorrow. Feel good today, happy today, but tomorrow might be a different story. But it doesn't have to be that way.

For those who have been washed by that blood, remember to thank Him for it. It's free to you, but it wasn't to Him. For those of you who haven't, well I'm not necessarily counting on this convincing you. It's just a story of sorts that I wanted to share. But you know what? As long as you're still here reading this, it's not too late. You might be saying, "Well I've got some pretty big holes in my life." Or, "I've made a big muddy mess out of my entire life." So what... join the club. God's not out there looking for the neatest or the cleanest people to save. He's not offering salvation only on the condition that you be the most together person in the world. No, He's looking to draw those who are big muddy messes back to Him so He can cleanse them. He's looking to take those whose very heart and soul have been broken and take them in His arms and put them together again. He didn't die for the pretty ones. Or I'll put it this way... He didn't die just for the pretty ones. He died for the ones that if they were clothes that were dirty and ripped you might want to throw them out if it were you. He doesn't want to do that though. Just something to think about and praise and thank Him for.

Jason
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