Cleaning Up for God

A popular excuse that people offer when it comes to salvation or to going to church is "Well, I gotta clean up my act first."  

That is a lie from the pits of hell.  

You never see an instance where God waits for someone to clean himself or herself up for him.  God speaks to you right where you are.

Here is what is said when Jesus calls his disciples.  

Matthew 9:9 "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him."  

Now, you have to understand what a feat this truly was.  In those times, tax collectors were not who they are today.  Tax collectors like Matthew overcharged citizens, had no accountability, and were greedy.  They had personal gain from the collection of these taxes.

This was a very despicable job.  It was so bad that they were not even included in the group “sinner.”  It was always said “tax collectors and sinners.”  

That’s pretty bad when you get your own category.

Another example that we see is found in the Gospel of Mark.  It says in Mark

1:16-18 "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him."

I think that most people can relate to this.

Simon and Andrew were just some ordinary men working an ordinary job. They had no religious training and were not even interested in following Jesus until the opportunity presented itself.  

People are messy.  They come with baggage, hurts, habits, and hang ups.They are selfish, they gossip, and they hold on to grudges.  But that’s just our nature.  People are born sinful.

Don’t believe me?  Who had to teach you or your kids to bite?  

Who taught you to fight with your brothers or sisters?  No one.  No parent wants to live in house where the kids are beating the snot out of each other every day.  So your parents didn’t teach you how to fight and argue.  

As a matter of fact, there are no perfect people used by Jesus.  Not one.

Not a single one was without fault.  The reason is because no one is perfect.

Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  For those deep thinkers out there, the word “all” means “everyone.”  

And really what have you done that is so bad?  Check out this list of people who God used even though they screwed up.

• David (whom the Bible calls a man after God's own heart) was an adulterer and a had a man killed.
• Noah was a drunk.
• Thomas doubted that Jesus conquered death.
• Peter had anger issues and was called “Satan” by Jesus.
• Moses was a murderer.
• Jonah ran from God.
• Paul killed Christians.

God isn’t waiting for you to clean yourself up.  What parent won’t change their baby’s diaper when it’s dirty?  The baby isn’t capable of changing it’s own diaper.  No parent would wait for the baby to clean itself up before they would accept it again.  

God is the same way.