Need a bath?

Yeh, yeh, I know, I’ve written about this before, but it’s different than the grace bath. It’s the years-long-accumulation-of-grime-you-can’t-scrape-off-with-a-straight-razor bath.

I’m talking to those who have been sitting, stewing in dirty water for years, and are ready to get out. Who know what to do but don’t want to lose friends, family members, communities, or religion. Over all of which have compromised faith, purpose, and integrity.

Who have had one foot in the muck, and one on the mat for years.

But it’s time to make a move.

Just adding clean water to the dirty tub won’t make it a healthy environment. You can’t put good on top of nasty and call it holy. Sometimes we have to go back to what we know is good and true, and start over from there.

Pull the baby Jesus out, and drain it. Stand there naked with your stripped bare faith and be in it until you feel safe enough to add to it.

Stand in the clean red letters, even when it feels lonely. Even when they come knocking with their self-serving selves. Stand in the clean.

You and Jesus.

You will meet others outside of the tub, I promise. They won’t want your money. They won’t want you to buy what they’re selling. They won’t rely on you for anything more than to add to the goodness of their lives strictly because you are in it.

No bait and switch here.

This is where the dinner party you were invited to doesn’t turn into a Tupperware Party.

This is where the feast is for you. No exclusion. No “one party with you in it, and the real one for the elite next weekend”.

You are invited to partake in the real one. The one with Jesus in attendance and not just discussed. You are welcome. You are celebrated. You are worthy of so much more than you even know. You are loved. You are priceless. You are who God intended you to be, and He delights in you.

As you are.

As you are.

If this is not the message you are receiving, then it’s probably time to consider your environment. Probably long past time.

Drain the bath. But please don’t throw the baby Jesus out with it.

Love, Val