At the car wash...

Today was the first warm, sunny day in months. I did what many people did today; I took my van to the car wash!

I go to an automatic car wash, one that's attended by real, live people who take your cash, rinse your car, and after the wash, dry it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I always get nervous when it's time for me to put my front-left tire into the conveyor belt. As I was driving forward, SLOWLY, the guy who had taken my money was motioning me to keep coming forward. I rolled down my window and asked him if I should keep the car in "drive".

"No! Put it in 'neutral' and leave it there." He even looked at my dash board to see if I had followed his instructions...pretty important ones I would guess.

So, my wheel was properly in the conveyor belt, my vehicle was in "neutral", and I sat back to relax for a minute. I was watching the giant sponges soap up my windows and thinking of how wonderfully-squeaky-clean the van was going to look when we were done.

God revealed to me how this whole process was a bit like how we should look when we come to Jesus to be saved, to be cleansed of our sin. We should no longer be in "drive" -- we have to put ourselves into "neutral" and let Jesus carry us through that car wash. We can't cleanse ourselves of sin, Jesus has to do it for us. If we're still in "drive", it's going to mess something up in a serious way.

I had a conversation this past weekend with a woman at church. She told me she was still working on "getting saved". Since she had just told me that she was walking with Jesus, I asked her why she thought she wasn't saved.

She told me that she doesn't do everything right, doesn't make the right choices, the ones that God wants her to, and that she hadn't started living her life completely for God. She was still in "drive".

We are told in the Bible that we are unable to be saved by our own doing -- it's all on Jesus and the trust we place in His sacrifice on our behalf.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (New International Version)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I do believe that during our walk with Jesus, we come to a point of conviction to change habits, lifestyles, purposes. But, those are changes of the heart that God does. They are evidence of our salvation, not requirements to be met BEFORE salvation.

When I relayed this to the woman at church, she got a big smile on her face -- Good News, indeed!

We all need reminders in this world of "drive" that the gift that Jesus extends to us is simply that, a gift. Put your vehicle in "neutral" and let the mud and grime of life be washed away by the only One who can.