I thought all bathwater was gray! Ours always was! In our home, we children had a bath once a week-whether we needed it or not. My mom seemed to think it was necessary. She would get out the tub and begin heating some water on our coal and wood stove. When it was hot enough the tub would be partially filled and the girls were allowed to have a bath. We boys learned early in life that it was "ladies first."

As each child used the soap and had their bath, a little more hot water was added to the first batch. By the time our turns came, the water was always gray. The shade of gray did not seem to change—just gray.

We did not get clued in until we were about 10 years old that it was not this way all over the world. That was the time we began to look forward to being men. When you were a man (at about age 12) you could have a shower in the shower house. This was a long building that had about 40 showers (with clean running water, hot and cold) that the coal miners used after they came off shift. What a great day that was when we were allowed to go on Saturday morning to have a shower—once a week and with clean water! Every boy in town who was about to be a man would show up there on Saturdays.

Real Cleansing

In mankind's relationship with God one can also see a parallel to my gray bathwater. God instituted a system of sacrifice for sin that did not remove the sin completely, but only acknowledged it. The system of animal sacrifice was like bathing in gray bathwater (to my mind). Humans were washed, but not really clean.

Hebrews 9:11-15 explains that the blood of bulls and goats sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, but Christ's blood really purges and cleanses us. Up to the time of Christ's sacrifice, humans came to God with the shed blood of animals. These sacrifices all looked forward to the Messiah who was to come.

We read in Hebrews 9:22: "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." Paul also writes in Hebrews 10:4 "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." Christ was the pure and clean water that truly cleanses humans from sin.

Defining Good and Evil

The moment God stated that "I am the LORD your God . . . you shall have no other gods before Me," He also stated that any other form of worship was sin and therefore evil.

It is like driving down a road. You can only get a ticket for speeding once there is a speed limit put on the road. If the speed limit is 100 kph and you go 120 kph, you are breaking the law.

God has laws that are eternal. The Ten Commandments reflect those laws of God. Since the definition of good created evil, God also took it upon Himself to design a system whereby the sin can be removed (once repented of). He began by showing Adam and Eve that the penalty of sin was death, and required blood. God then killed an animal and covered Adam and Eve. The process of blood for sin continued until the time of Christ. The need for blood has not changed, but now we receive the clean and pure blood of Christ, which really does make us clean.

This gift is not automatic. We still have to become men (mature); we still have to go to the washhouse (repent and come to God through Christ); we still have to use the soap and water and then dry off (learn what sin is and what the sacrifice of Christ really means); we still have to try and stay clean for a week (go and sin no more).

Our trips to the shower house were free, provided as a service by the mining company for the boys of the town. (The girls had been given first crack at the tub for years, so we thought it was just and fair that we should have free showers.) Christ is free. God does not charge for His love or His gift.

He does demand our loyalty and commitment to Him, to His plan and to His way of life. That is the only way—there is no other.

There are some who still do not realize that not all bathwater is gray. Some think they are clean even if they are the fourth into the gray water. After the first real shower, we boys never again set foot into the gray bathwater. Now we knew what clean really was!

When Christ cleanses us, we know that we are clean. One day the whole world will be able to come to the "shower house." What a great day of celebration that will be!

More information about the cleansing power of Christ can be found in our booklet titled: Transforming Your Life: the Process of Conversion. Our Bible Study Course also has excellent material. I encourage you to order and read this material. It too is free of charge.