Cleaning the Oven
by Morna Gillespie
The recent lock-down in the UK has had surprisingly beneficial results for me. Not the least is I now have time to spring clean. Whether that’s a massive attic clear out, or just sorting the rubbish from one cupboard, the clean-up is under way. I was challenged to do the thing I dreaded the most – clean the oven. It’s never been on my list of priorities. |It’s been more a hope that someone else will have to deal with it many years from now!
The top of the cooker, the hob area, wasn’t so bad. It gets a wipe over most days after its been used. But the glass door of the oven was as spotty as a Dalmatian dog, with cooked-in grease. As I sat down to begin the task, I was reminded that Jesus wants His bride, the Church, to be spotless, without blemish. ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish’ (Ephesians 5:25-27).
My cooker might have looked okay on the outside, but what was going on inside? Each cooked-in spot had to be painstakingly rubbed away. The newest and smallest were relatively easy, but the older stains took a lot of elbow-grease before they started to shift.
Our sins can be like that too. The longer we try and hid our sin, or refuse to forgive someone, or try and cover up our sin with other sins, then the harder it will be to be washed clean. The good news is that Jesus came to do just that, to wash us clean of everything that prevents us from being pure and holy.
Prayer: Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus to cleanse and to heal us. May we always be open to Your work in our lives, however painful it may feel. Help us to know that You love us and will walk though this with us. Amen>
Morna Gillespie Having done the Modular course at Ellel Grange, Morna went to Ellel Pierrepont for nine months to do NETS and is still there twenty years later! She is part of the leadership team and enjoys admin, teaching and worship. Morna has a passion to help others grow and mature as believers, through the life-changing healing and training offered on both NETS and Explore.
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