SAMANTHA ELLEY reflects, while cleaning up her bike in the aftermath of recent floods, on how Jesus cleanses us…
Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia
PICTURE: Unsplash/Jan Kopřiva
Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. – Hebrews 10:22
On my 54th birthday, my hubby and two sons bought me a bike. I had started taking my fitness seriously and wanted a bike to work towards my goal of getting healthier. I rode it everywhere: to the shops, to the next town, just around the streets, even to the local cemetery.
“As I’ve scrubbed away the mud and seen the bike start to sparkle again, it hit me that the slow methodical process I was using could be an analogy for the way Jesus works in our lives.”
On the day of the Northern Rivers floods, the bike was the last thing I moved out of the garage, but left it on the ground floor of the house in the hope the flood waters wouldn’t go too high. They did. The bike was consumed and when we were able to get back into the house, it was found under the remains of the collapsed ceiling.
I am thankful it didn’t float away as so many of our other belongings did. In fact, it was still in the same spot I had left it, while the nearby piano had been upended. Over the four months since the flood, the bike, with its coating of river mud and bits of ceiling stuck to it, has stood like a lonely sentinel in the shell of our home, while we have worked on trying to organise builders, electricians and plumbers to fix the house.
Just recently, I’ve taken it into one of the empty rooms, grabbed some chux and cleaner and slowly started to restore it back to its former glory. As I’ve scrubbed away the mud and seen the bike start to sparkle again, it hit me that the slow methodical process I was using could be an analogy for the way Jesus works in our lives.
Spoke-by-spoke, He cleans us from our bad thoughts, our evil actions and our nasty attitudes. He doesn’t just get rid of the mud that is obvious on top of the seat, but also underneath where people can’t see. He gets into the tiny areas between the brakes, gears and pedals. He oils the chain and pumps up our tyres, so we are able to pedal our way on the path that He has put before us.
While the bike doesn’t get much say in its clean up, we do. We choose whether or not to take that step towards Jesus, having faith that He will give us a good clean from our bad habits. Of course, just like a bike, we can easily be spattered with mud again and again, but our holy bike-cleaner will always be there to scrub that dirt away.
