WE CONTINUE TO meditate upon “You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). He cleansed the universe of gods and goddesses of questionable character and gave us the one Christlike heavenly Father. He cleansed the term “Christ” from being a conquering Jewish Messiah who would lead the Jews to supremacy, to a Messiah who would die for all men. He cleansed suffering from being a sign of God’s wrath and made it opportunity to manifest His love. He cleansed the grave from decay and made it Resurrection. He cleansed heaven from being a place of heavenly maidens—“horis”—into a place where men and women neither marry nor give in marriage. He cleansed love from being eros—possessive love—and made it into agape—a nonpossessive, sacrificial love. He cleansed the material earth from being an evil thing subject to doom and decay and made it into the scene of the coming kingdom of God on earth. He cleansed life itself as something to be avoided when He said: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). He cleansed everything He touched, and He touched everything.
He said that they were “already made clean by the word” He had spoken to them. They were clean in a sense, and yet actually they were not. Their conscious minds were clean, but their subconscious minds were not clean—they quarreled over first places, wanted to call down fire on others, forsook Him and fled, and were behind closed doors for fear. Potentially they were clean in His cleanness, but actually they stepped out of Him into themselves so were full of self-assertions and consequent fears and conflicts.
O Jesus, my Lord, as long as I abide in Thee I am potentially and actually clean. As soon as I step out of Thee into my self-will I am not. Then keep me, O keep me, abiding in Thee, for apart from Thee I can do nothing except wrong. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The Holy Spirit is cleansing my subconscious at depths I am unable to control.
