The Ballestero Blog

It’s Called Filth

My mother was an expert on pigsties. She came into my bedroom one day when I was in the 7^th grade and told me that my room looked like a pigsty. She ordered me to clean it up, in no uncertain terms. I did. Mama had zero tolerance for filth.

I recently went with a pastor to visit some sick people in the hospital.  A small boy had contracted Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. He was 4 years old and refused to wear shoes indoors or out. His constant hand contact with his feet and then his mouth was a major issue.

His feet were covered with blisters, as well as his hands.  His mouth was full of them besides. The youngster was in a coma.

As I left the Hospital, I looked for the hand Sanitizer dispenser in the lobby by the front door. I used two dozes just in case one application didn’t catch all of the germs.

I shake dozens of hands before and after church. It’s important to me to be able to wash the fellowship off of my hands before sitting down to eat after service. I don’t want the germs from their unwashed hands in my mouth.

It doesn’t take much for germs to spread. I do not which to get germs nor do I wish to spread them.

There are times when I wish I could wash my mind and my thoughts because of what I heard or what I saw that day. We may call the influence of the world in our lives by nicer names, but I’m afraid that most of it falls under the classification of filth.

Sometimes I wish I could pull my heart out and put it on the scrub board of God’s Mercy and scrub it clean. I wish I could scrub it clean of all impurities and filth. I am not talking about immorality, I’m just talking about the filth of this generation that swirls around us everyday. It’s called Life.

David even spoke of the same desire to be clean in Psalms. He also wanted to scrub away the filth of life and be clean so that he might be acceptable in the presence of the Lord.

Psa. 51:2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Psa. 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Peter warned us all that there would be a constant need to protect ourselves for the present evils of the age.

Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

This indecent, unbecoming, uncomely, unseemly world of ours freely spreads it’s filth around every day. It infiltrates our ears, our eyes, our minds, and most of all our hearts. We must work constantly to keep ourselves pure.

1John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

We have to do some washing ourselves. That is the reason why daily devotions and our prayer closet times are so important to keeping ‘disease free’ in a filthy and sick world.

Thank God for the altars in our churches. Thank God for a place where hearts can be scrubbed clean.

No Levite or Priest could enter into the Holy Place of God without first washing the filth off in the Laver, and neither can we. Every one of us needs to be washed on a daily basis.

Saints of old sang songs about being washed and being clean. I wish they still did.

Search Me, O God

James E. Orr, 1936

Copyright: Public Domain

1. Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
   Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray;
   See if there be some wicked way in me;
   Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
2. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
   Fulfill Thy word and make me pure within;
   Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;
   Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.
3. Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
   Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
   Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
   I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
4. O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;
   Send a revival, start the work in me;
   Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need;
   For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.