“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
One of the main principles of the Japanese religion Tenrikyo is that disease begins in the mind and if you get your mind clean, you’ll be at peace, happy, creative, an asset to society. I especially like the way they have constructed their temples. Each altar is open to the elements. The rain falls on it, the snow falls on it, the wind blows on it, the sun shines on it. Everything rain, snow, wind, and sun—is a cleansing agent, and the lesson is that if you let the rain and snow and wind and sun of the good God into your mind, He will cleanse you of that which destroys your peace of mind.
This same idea reaches its glorious fulfillment in Christianity. Not only does it cleanse, but it makes old creatures new. I’ve seen defeated people become victorious people, soiled people become clean people, dull people become excited. God doesn’t merely create you, He repeatedly re-creates you.
Excerpted from Positive Living Day by Day, copyright © 2011 by Guideposts. All rights reserved.
