Bath Towel Theology

A few years back, hunter green towels hung in my bathroom on display. You know the ones. The ones you don’t really use but they hang for weeks at a time. Just don’t sniff them too closely. Then you realize they need washing.

Just the other day it struck me that there is some theology behind those towels. Dark-colored towels versus white ones. Theology?!?! Yes.

White towels hang on my bathroom towel racks today. And I use them. They aren’t just for show, for display. Every stain and soil, though,  can be easily detected. It seems I wash them every couple of days. Do you think that’s why hotels only display white towels? So all stains are detected? And so they can be bleached?

Back in the day, though, when I used dark-colored towels, nasty stains could pile up on those things, and no one could tell. I sure couldn’t tell without taking a close-up whiff. I’m embarrassed to tell you that I often forgot to wash my towels except every few weeks or so, possibly even after a month. Disgusting.

These towels remind me of our hearts, our lives, with and without Jesus. The dark towels remind me of my life before accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior. My common sin stains were rarely detected. They could pile on and didn’t get cleaned very often.

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” –Psalm 51:7

When we accept to have our hearts are transformed by the Holy Spirit, our hearts become like a white towel. We can detect our sin stains so much easier (cussing, gossiping, pride, excessive spending or drinking, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and so many others–none fun for me to list).  When our hearts are truly transformed by Jesus, there is no way I wanna back to my nasty sin stained-heart from the past.

May you be encouraged today that Jesus washes our hearts so sweetly with His own blood–like bleach. Our hearts are transformed into luxurious white towels. Still getting soiled with sin, but so much easier to clean over and over.

This bath towel theology may seem pretty simple. Faith in Jesus is just that simple. Just that hard. Whatever color or shape our life’s “towels” are in, remember that Jesus loves you so much. He’s the only truly stainless One.

Reflect:

–Which towel describes your life right now?

–What will you do about it? Please comment.

Renew:

–“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” –Psalm 51:10

–“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” –2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

–“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” –Hebrews 10:22 NIV

Recharge:

–What will you do differently now that your heart is “whiter than snow?”

–To demonstrate this heart cleansing to a group of senior high students, I took a bottle of water and mixed it with purple Kool aid powder. Then I added one drop of bleach to the bottle of purple Kool-aid water. In one minute then entire bottle of water was miraculously clear. Please try it. It’s pretty cool way to show easily what Jesus does to our hearts.