THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – Exodus 30:17-21): ¹⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. ²⁰ They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the Lord—or they will die! ²¹ They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die.

THOUGHTS: Most of us are diligent about making ourselves presentable in certain places and in select circumstances. As an example, it would not be impressive for one to come for an office job interview straight from working in the yard – filled with sweat and dirt. Growing up, I remember my mom settling into her seat at church, where her first course of action would be to bow her head and pray. I believe that was a prayer of preparation for her in asking God to take away the distractions; forgive her of her sin; and make her worthy to come before Him in worship and adoration. God showed early saints that cleansing themselves before coming into His presence was important, just as He demonstrated in the actions taught in these verses highlighted today. In verse 20 God said that He would strike dead Aaron and/or his sons who may have disobeyed His command to cleanse themselves physically before entering His presence. Earlier in this chapter we are told that Moses ‘burned with anger’ when he saw how his people had turned back to their life of sin so quickly during his absence. I can only imagine how God must burn with anger and disappointment when His children, who claim Him as Lord, enters His house (church) to praise Him but drenched in the sin of our weekly encounters. The unfortunate thing that I believe we must be careful of, is that after our first visit in such a condition, we tend to become hardened to our sinful attitudes; our rude and disrespectful encounters; our disregard for God and/or His Word during the week; and therefore lose the guilt of needing to seek cleansing from God before we seek an audience with Him. Friends, we must be very careful to not make a mockery of God. He is still the Creator of this entire universe and of you and I. He is the same God that sent His Son to us as our ultimate Redeemer, Savior and Lord. He is sin-less and deserves our humility, love and respect so that we approach Him in similar form as He demanded of Aaron and his sons in verse 21 – always clean. The consequence for us could easily be as severe as God threatened Aaron – death. In the New Testament we are warned that some who have taken the Lord’s Supper unworthily have even died. Friends, we must be reminded that we fool no one but ourselves when we deliberately sin in the face of God. There is no need to pretend we are worthy of His praise, when we are saturated in sin. God knows us better than we know ourselves, so we can’t fool Him. Let us therefore humbly bow before Him and ask for His cleansing on a daily basis. Perhaps then we might be more pleasing to Him, and better represent Him to the lost of this world.

PRAYER: Lord, You alone are holy, and we are not. Please help us to acknowledge that, and to always seek Your forgiveness and Your cleansing, for we have learned from this lesson today that You deserve a clean heart from upright people. Please help us to always be conscious of our filth – our sin, and to stay so in tuned with You and Your Word that our sin will be highlighted for us, so that we might be aware of our need for You. Please be very evident in our lives today so that we may enter Your courts with praise and so that we may be worthy of representing You before those within our realm of influence. Please touch the lives of those that need to hear this word today so that they may become more effective witnesses for You in every aspect of their lives. I ask these things in the worthy and all powerful name of Jesus, my Savior, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!