Like a Car Wash

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I was going through the car wash and it dawned on me that as I was going in there and they instructed me to follow and get into line and then put the car into neutral. Take your hands off the wheel. Don’t hit the brakes. You have to have a lot of trust in this process in order to get your car clean. And it dawned on me that in many ways, it’s similar to the work of the Holy Spirit. This is something that Martin Luther in the Small Catechism really emphasized in his explanation to the third article of the Creed when he wrote,

I believe that I cannot, by my own reason or strength. Believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Ghost has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

We’re tempted sometimes to think that we have to do things in order to get ourselves clean, and we take a lot of that credit. We take a lot of that pressure. We internalize it. What does God want from you and me? He wants us to come to him and let him do the work. And at times that work can be pretty intense. Just as you’re going through a car wash and and you’re hearing that beating of the brushes on the car, and you see the spray, and you can almost feel the vibrations through the window of that powerful washing. So too is it as God, the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, to make us what he wants of us, to strengthen us, to make us holy and beautiful creatures before him. That work of sanctification that the Holy Spirit does. Sometimes it can be alarming, and we might be tempted to try and take control of things ourselves, but that can be really dangerous.

In fact, I saw a video recently of someone who ended up rear ending a car in front of them in a car wash, and it caused damage to their car, the other car, it caused thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage to the car wash itself. No, you have to keep your hands off the wheel. You have to leave it in neutral. You have to let the car wash do its work.

So to with us. Are we willing to let God do the work of cleansing us? As Christians, we know that he is the one who takes care of us. He’s the one who has already gone to all the effort. He’s already put the payment down for your cleanliness. And that payment, of course, was the blood of Christ your Savior. Jesus has done all the work, and now God wants to come and give that to you. And that’s the work of the Holy Spirit who goes to work in your heart, cleansing you by bringing Jesus to you, installing Jesus in you, putting faith in Christ into you. It’s not something we do. We get to be the passive passengers. And yet God does that incredible work for us.

What a blessing the pressure is off of us. Thank you Lord for giving us this cleansing. God’s peace be with you.