“If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
I have a great side gig. I’m a part-time pool cleaner.
I have to say, it’s a sweet job. Well, not the stinky, sweaty part. I’m rather disgusting after five hours of swampy Florida heat and humidity. Some clients graciously offer to let me take a dip in their pools to cool off, but I politely decline because on my average day, I wouldn’t want to defile their pool water. Hey, I’m just being honest here.
Despite lugging around equipment and chemicals in the sub-tropics, I enjoy cleaning pools. Especially in the “winter months” when the mornings start cool, around fifty degrees, and then the sun warms the air to around eighty glorious degrees.
The process is repetitious. Check the chemicals with a test strip. Pour in the liquid or granular pool shock. Check the skimmer (the little inground basket on the side that collects pool floaties like leaves, bugs, and the occasional small lizard). Add a tablet of chlorine and stabilizer to the skimmer. Brush the side tiles around the pool’s rim. Brush the pool walls and bottom. Finally, finish with the skimmer net and go to the next house.
It’s a great job if you want to be alone and left to your thoughts.
Speaking of that, I often get some great insights about spiritual matters (at least to me). May I share a recent one with you? (If not, stop reading here.)
Okay, you’ve committed yourself. Here we go.
Many Christians struggle with how the whole “forgiveness after sinning” thing works. Yes, we’re saved and changed into new creations with a spiritual nature that can resist sinning. (see my previous, “Are You As Rotten As You Think You Are?” https://www.highbeamministry.com/post/are-you-as-rotten-as-you-think-you-are) But let’s be honest. We still choose to sin and later feel guilty about it. Too guilty. Unrelentingly guilty. Unforgivably guilty. We find ourselves crying out like King David did after his sins of murder and adultery were exposed.
“Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:11-12).
We (and by “we,” I include myself) often don’t think we’re forgiven until we feel forgiven. That’s so wrong. If we based our theology on our feelings, so many Christians would miss God’s truth or use their feelings to deny it flat-out. Oh, wait! That’s what the Left-leaning church does today regarding human sexuality with their manifold genders, same-sex marriages, and their blessing of unblessable sexual acts. But I digress.
Forgiveness isn’t based on feelings. Our forgiveness and cleansing are based on God’s truth declared through His word.
And your eyes just glazed over. Well, this is where pool cleaning comes in.
I love that Jesus used object lessons to teach. That was very common for rabbis to do in His day. Object lessons are powerful because they appeal to our senses and drive the truth home to our minds and hearts. So, here’s what I learned about Jesus’ forgiveness and cleansing from pool maintenance.
A saved person is like a pool. A pool is a container for living water. That’s water that moves because it has an inflow and outflow. Water circulates from the pool to the drain to the filtration system and finally returns to the pool. It’s a continual process that keeps the pool water clean.
Jesus’ gift of salvation and regeneration is like building a pool. Once completed, we’re an empty pool that must be filled with Living Water. That’s the Holy Spirit co-mingling with our spiritual being. Check this out! “But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17). No, that doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit is us and we’re Him. The Holy Spirit and the individual remain distinct persons. However, the Holy Spirit permeates us inside so we can operate together like a synchronized swimming team. Yup, you can’t escape the Holy Spirit’s presence (Psalm 139:7).
So, our new life begins as the Holy Spirit circulates within us. We must keep our “pool” clean because outside stuff sometimes falls into us (sinful thoughts, feelings, and actions) and contaminates us. Whatever shall we do?
That’s why a pool has a filtration system. Throughout the week, the stuff that enters the pool is either skimmed off or pulled through the floor drain, and all the water runs through the filter. In our object lesson, the filter is Jesus’ sacrifice that is constantly in effect. As the water passes through the pool filter, even the smallest contaminants are screened out, and the water is clarified. When we submit ourselves to Jesus, His sacrifice catches and removes the sins and transgressions (stepping over God’s line). No sin, no transgression equals no guilt.
However, we must keep the pump running. When the Bible says, “If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7), the verb means “If we continually walk in the light…”. To make this process of forgiveness of sin and releasing guilt happen, we need ongoing communion with Jesus.
When examining a pool, I first note the water quality and contaminants present. As the official Pool Boy, I point at the pool and pronounce it guilty for its unholy and impure condition. But do I leave it that way? No way. I get to work to clean things up. Once clean, there’s no reason for me to declare the pool guilty of uncleanness because it’s clean and clear. That’s why we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over confessed sin. Jesus’s sacrifice forgives and cleanses every single sin we bring to Him.
Forget your feelings. The truth is, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Now, let me call on my friend, Mr. Discovery Bible, again to get the nuance of the verbs in that verse. This paraphrase is how 1 John 1:9 can be read:
“If we customarily, habitually, and repeatedly confess our sins, He is faithful and just to effectively and successfully, in one single action, forgive our sins and cleanse us right then and there from all unrighteousness.”
The pools I service don’t run their filtration system continually. They’re on a timer. Sometimes, the timer trips, and the pool system stops circulating the water. True, the filter stands ready. But if the water doesn’t circulate, the filter, although present and effective, can’t do its job. That’s why we must continually come to Jesus: to ensure nothing is floating around in us that’s dirtying our spiritual pool. If we fall into spiritual laziness, the pump isn’t doing its job getting the water to the filter. And you wonder why you feel yucky and swampy inside?
No, that doesn’t mean we must live with constant naval-gazing introspection, worried about every infinitesimally minor transgression we might have committed. It means we should be spiritually flowing with the Holy Spirit so He can point out whatever floats by that ought to be addressed and sent to the filter of Jesus’ atonement for sin.
But keeping pool water clean is more than just addressing particulate matter. I use chemicals for organic things like bacteria and algae that can putrefy the water. Per our analogy, those things would be habitual sinful thoughts, words, and deeds that must be killed (Colossians 3:5). How do we do that? By reading God’s word, we can point out what we shouldn’t tolerate or practice as His children. Like the chemicals I use to clean, clear, and clarify pool water, the Holy Spirit uses His word to clean our conscience, clear our eyes, and clarify our thinking from the guck we’ve allowed to flourish within us.
There’s one final pool-cleaning element I’d like to mention. It’s called pool shock. “When you add shock to your pool water, it gets right to work, removing the combined chlorine molecules (also called chloramines) from your pool. Shock also helps destroy bacteria and what some refer to as “bather waste” after your pool gets a lot of activity; shock removes any contamination situation, and finally, shock helps eliminate mustard, green and black algae” (hthpools.com/blogs/pools/what-is-swimming-pool-shock).
In other words, you may have a well-balanced, clean, and clear pool, but even natural use leaves behind yuck that needs to be treated precisely and powerfully. The equivalent in our pool/forgiveness analogy is the point-blank, in-your-spiritual-face power of Holy Spirit conviction.
Even though we go through life with a heart and mind turned toward the Lord, we’re still prone to giving in to sin when we want to. When we deliberately sin, we lose sensitivity to the Spirit’s voice. Sometimes, it gets awful, and our spiritual lives stink. At those times, the Spirit needs to shock us back to our senses. You know, a lot like the Prodigal Son coming to his senses and realizing how low he’s fallen (Luke 15:17).
The Holy Spirit’s conviction could come as a sudden insight, a verse that erupts in our heads, a shocking situation, or someone calling you out on your sin. Rather than hating being exposed, thank the Lord for loving you enough to stop your putrefying and restart the cleansing process. So, get the pump going! Let Jesus’ sin-filtration system do its job, let God’s Word kill and clear out the residue of selfish living, and go with the flow when the Holy Spirit shocks you into a major cleaning.
Now I’m going to tell on myself. I just took a break to test my home’s pool because it’s been a while since I treated it, and it’s a hot day. Bingo! Still completely balanced and ready.
I’m diving in.
Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts