Clean from the Unclean

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
Job 14:4-6
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Clean from the Unclean
We are told in the Psalms, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). From the very beginning of our existence, we are sinful, we are unclean.  So how can we ever expect to be clean before God.  The devil, the world, and our own unclean, sinful selves tell us, that we just need to work harder, cleanse ourselves with good deeds and right living.  Yet no matter what we do we can never cleanse ourselves from our original sin, not to mention the multitude of actual sins we commit daily. Job would have that God “look away from him and leave him alone.” In other words, leave me in my filth, leave me in this wretched condition.  Thankfully for Job, and for us, God does not take that advice. He does not leave us in an unclean state.  He cleanses us through His Means of Grace.  Through the purifying waters of Holy Baptism our soiled garments are made pure.  In Holy Absolution the stain of sin is removed from us, and at His holy altar, the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, washes us thoroughly.  Because of what Christ has done for us on the cross, our formerly filthy unclean rages are radiant white, washed clean in the blood of the Lamb.