I only like dirt on my terms–in the garden, out hiking with my dog, painting, and so on–physical dirt.  I’ve had enough of the ‘dirt’ of this world and have no desire to have any part of it anymore–the drama it brings, the pain and suffering.  So when I accepted Christ as my Savior you might say that selfishly, I was hoping to be rid of ‘dirt.’  You know, all things would be made new, suffering would cease, life would be good.  It was all about me and my family and having our perfect little world (bubble) on this earth.

Got Dirt?

In God’s world, that is impossible and in fact, downright blasphemy.  Yes, in my heart and mind I wanted to be ‘identified’ with Christ, I wanted to hear the words “Well done good and faithful servant,” but in reality, I didn’t want to get my hands dirty and make my proclamation, identity with Christ, known.  Just yesterday I was putting gas in my car and saw a bumper sticker on the car next to me that said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”  I was startled by this thought, “That sounds so judgmental and egotistical, like I’m ‘lost’ if I don’t accept Christ.”  I was a little annoyed for a moment.  Then I was struck by how easy it is to be a Christian, to believe all that the bumper sticker said and yet, be ashamed to admit it in public.  Those people were willing to have ‘mud’ flung at them–even from fellow ‘believers’ such as myself.

This whole ‘getting dirty’ and being ‘separated to the gospel’ is not easy.  I am FAR from being as ‘dirty’ as I should be in this area.  Writing this blog in fact at times makes my stomach turn with concern about what others may think of me, how many ‘friends’ might I loose for speaking about Christ, how will my art career be affected, will I offend someone, will my children be ashamed, will I be perceived as fanatical……??????

The answer is YES, it will affect all the above, somehow.  Then I remember Jesus, my creator, king and redeemer and His approach to the matter and I am shamed beyond words.  The King of the Universe willingly humbled Himself to the size of a sperm, identified Himself with sinful humanity in the form of a baby, subjected Himself to all that we go through on a daily basis for 33 years, was mocked and persecuted while proclaiming freedom from sin (the old life) if you’ll just believe in Him, was sent to the cross by the ‘religious leaders,’ where He became SIN (the ‘filth of this earth’), died, suffered the consequences of hell and rose again…for us lowly ‘dirt bags.’  I’m only left with this–God help me!!  I am way too ‘clean!’