Wrinkles and Blemishes

 “and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:27

When my step-daughter has a zit (blemish), she calls it a “Helga”. We send each other pictures of our “Helga’s”. Kind of gross I know, but that’s how we roll. Now I don’t know why she chose that name, and I apologize to any Helga’s who might be reading this.

I don’t get as many zits as I used to, but the zits have been replaced with many other imperfections. I am now overrun with wrinkles, age spots, and an occasional chin hair. Even the women who were considered the most beautiful in my younger days (i.e., Cindy Crawford, Julia Roberts) are affected by the imperfections that come with the aging process. Jennifer Aniston is an enigma. I chalk it up to not having kids.😊

To be without blemish is to be without a mark, problem, or imperfection. I don’t know about you, I have all of these! I don’t believe that this is referring to our physical imperfections, but the blemishes and imperfections within our hearts. It is God’s desire for us to one day appear before Him holy and blameless – with a clean heart!

“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’.”  Mark 7:15

This is quite the list of things that come out of us! Some things are obvious – we know that murder and adultery are ‘unclean’ acts. But this list includes less obvious sins like arrogance, envy, and greed. So how do we cultivate a clean heart? I believe that we follow Jesus’ example and try to avoid the things listed that make us ‘unclean’. Will we likely backslide? We are human and will most definitely run into problems from time to time. When we do, we can review this list and get ourselves back on track.

 ^“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.  Ephesians 5:1-2

Someday, we will present ourselves to God in all of our glory. He already thinks we are beautiful. However, no matter how physically attractive we may be, we all have stains, wrinkles and blemishes to contend with. The best we can do is to follow His example and work towards a clean heart.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”  Psalm 51:10-12

REFLECT

What blemishes or imperfections do you struggle with the most?

What can you do to work towards a clean heart?