Cleansed at the Root

“Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin.” Psalm 51:2

Recently, my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, came for a weekend visit. While my granddaughter, Amelia napped, I showed my daughter-in-law, Nicole, my orchid that I had re-potted and mentioned that it wasn’t looking too healthy. She took the pot in her hands and gave it a closer look. She thought the problem was probably the fact that I had not properly cleaned the old soil off of the roots before I put it in the new pot.

Nicole offered to fix it for me, and I accepted her offer! She has quite a few orchids herself and they all seem to be thriving and look healthy, so I figured having her green thumb on my plant couldn’t hurt! As I watched, she oh so gently, picked it out of the soil and begin to lightly break away the old stuff. Root by root she did this until they were all cleaned off.

As she worked, I was reminded how Jesus cleans the old dirt from us when we give Him our hearts and lives. My dirt was sin and guilt, and instead of water, Jesus cleansed me with His blood. “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin.” 1 John 1:7(b)

With the cleaning by Nicole, my orchid already looks healthier. Personally, I can only be healthy spiritually by the cleansing blood of Christ. I told Nicole that she had given me a devotion just cleaning the little orchid. I am always amazed at the things, the actions, the comments and situations He uses to bring a devotion to my mind.

I am thankful to Nicole for saving my orchid, which made me think about Jesus saving my soul!

As a closing thought, I have jumbled together the first and second verses from the hymn penned by Robert Lowery, “Nothing but the Blood”, which I think fits my thoughts exactly.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

For my cleansing this my plea, Nothing but the blood of Jesus