Cleansing a Dirty Mind

How much living water is required to cleanse a dirty mind? That is what I have been thinking of for the past week. Not that kind of dirty mind, lol. I'm talking about a mind cluttered by the words and thoughts planted by years of living on a worldly planet.

So here's the thing--our spiritual thinking gets bogged down by all kinds of thought sludge. Some things are pretty innocuous: "What can I buy for Mom for her birthday?" Some thoughts are downright nasty: "I can never do anything worthwhile for God." Day by day, our minds get cluttered to the point that it is hard to sort it out. Then, just like an overloaded hard drive, we need reformatting. So what is a person to do?

Jesus prayed for us saying: "They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth, Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify Myself for them, so they also may be sanctified by the truth." John 17:16-19 Paul wrote: "...Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless." Eph. 5:25-27

The word of God is the washing medium. So just reading the bible should fix everything, right? Wrong! If that were the case, we could pick certain verses and spritz spritz, all would be perfect in our little kingdom. It doesn't work that way. (Just ask me--I've tried.) We can even try to deluge ourselves in the word. Instead of spritzing, we can drown in it. Still won't work. We will just get frustrated and it adds more clutter to our dirty minds.

So what is the answer here? Today I think it has much more to do with Who is doing the washing. Holy Spirit knows exactly what "word" I need for Him to apply to my mind today through revelation and discipline that will completely renew my mind. He has an unlimited supply from streams of living water. Maybe today instead of worrying about what the Lord needs to do to straighten out my thinking, I will just praise Him.

How much living water is required to cleanse my dirty mind? God only knows and He promises that He will present His bride to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, but holy and blameless. He always keeps His word.