You know those days when you feel guilty all the time. Or stained inside. Or so crazy that you can’t focus your thoughts in a healthy direction? I just hate those kind of days.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

Back when Tom and I were dating and he was cleaning up from living on LSD and other such drugs, his former lifestyle was playing havoc with his brain.

Not me. I was fine. I was Little Red Riding Hood—didn’t do drugs or drink . . . and I had lots of red hair. (OK, so I tried smoking six joints one evening, and I got drunk once, but both experiences felt so stupid I never did them again.)

Anyway, back to Tom. As I was saying, his lifestyle had messed him up—even after he quit doing drugs and drinking.

Sometimes he’d ask me to drive when we went places. He found it difficult to steer when the road kept turning different colors, moving up and down, or swirling around in circles before his eyes. I thought he was nuts, but I loved him.

One summer after Tom came to be friends with Jesus, he entered a Scripture contest based on the book of Matthew. This was difficult for him. He didn’t read or retain information well because words didn’t stay still on the page. He figured he’d have to memorize the book if he was going to be able to answer any of the questions.

One byproduct of that summer of memorizing Matthew was clarity of thought and focus. The road stopped changing colors and moving around. Tom could read and retain information. The crazy inside just stopped. And of course he won the contest.

When you feel guilty, crazy or stained

Tom became clean—without stain or crazy—as the words of the ancient book washed over his mind and soul. Paul explains it like this:

Christ love the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV, italics mine).

When God’s word washes over you, it cleans you up inside—like taking a long shower after a sweaty day.

Gone are the inner stains, the feelings of guilt, or the crazy left over from drugs. Calm settles over you and the world comes into focus.

Here’s the kicker question

Do you pay as much attention to soul cleansing as you do your body hygiene? Aha, thought not.

I’m not sayin’ you should memorize the whole book of Matthew. Or Luke or John. Just that you need to be in your Bible everyday. Reading. You don’t have to understand it all or make it a Bible study. Just read. Let the ancient words wash over your soul.

It really works.

Enjoy your shower, Susan

“Jesus likes it when we share.” -Adelaide, age 3: Pass this along to everybody and their brother. OK, maybe not everybody, but you know . . . all of your friends would be nice.

Save