Isaiah 64: 6 ” All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away“.

Have you ever watched sunshine trying to come through a dirty glass window? The sunbeam struggles to comes in unable to reflect its true glory. Look at the contrast when the window is clean, the sunshine comes in so brightly that you might find yourself shielding your eyes from the brightness. Similarly, the lights in a room shine differently when their shades are clean, enhancing the entire room.

Like the windows and the lights, as God’s holy temple we are called to manifest the presence of the living God in our lives. However in our daily living, we get dirty and polluted which prevents us from shining our best reflection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. People look at us and see all our flaws and cracks so much clearly as we are covered with the dirt, sin and grime of this world. A good example of this are instances when we hold on to a grudge and not forgive someone who has hurt us deeply. In this state the person cannot see Jesus manifested in us as we are blocking him from shining through.

This also brings us to the realisation that we cannot clean our own dirtiness. Have you ever seen a window with hands cleaning itself or a light fixture exclaiming: I’m too dull so I’m gonna clean me”? Humour aside , just like these objects we are paralysed in that department and cannot clean ourselves . As the Scriptures say: “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. Our righteousness are like filthy rags and so the more we try to clean ourselves, the worse we get.

How can we get clean though? Only when we find ourselves in the presence of God, sitting at His feet engaging with him in worship, communing with him we see ourselves for what we are…broken, polluted, dirty, unclean. Like Isaiah, spending time in God’s glorious presence high and lifted up shows us up…ruined, person of unclean lips, living among unclean people (Isaiah 6:1-5). It brings us to our senses of how small and insignificant we are in the presence of the most holy God who fills the entire earth with his glory.

This means only when the Lord reveal himself to us in his presence and purifies us can our uncleanliness be removed and he takes away our guilt and atones for our sin. That is the only reason why the Lord Jesus Christ came, to recreate the light connection between us and God and make sure that we in our brokenness, uncleanness are restored to our purpose. And what is that purpose again: to manifest the glory of God in all we say and in all we do. To let the light of God shine so clearly through so that others may hear and understand, see and perceive the move of God and turn to the Lord for healing.

So today, spend some time worshipping and communing with the Lord. speak with him in the cool of the garden anytime in the day and let him cleanse you and restore you to being his manifestation in this world.

Lord we come to you in our sinfulness, our dirtiness asking for your forgiveness. We ask you to cleanse us from all the attitudes and behaviours that have reflected badly on your Kingdom. Fill us once again with your Holy Spirit and the light of Jesus Christ so the world can see you in us. In Jesus’ name. Amen