"Warm Showers"

Revelation 22:17 "The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." (NIV)

What a strange concept, to start this blog at the end of the Bible, but I thought this verse would relate very well to the topic of "warm showers". Usually, the image of a college shower is not the cleanest. I usually picture my experience last year: a community bathroom, old tile showers, hair all over the floor and walls, drains that won't empty fast enough. Well, luckily that is not the kind of shower I have this year, but I still think it is safe to say that showers are not always clean and fun. Most young children hate showers or baths, and why is that? Perhaps, they find it too painful to get soap or shampoo in their eyes, all the dirt and mud from playing outside that day comes off, the idea that play time has to be interrupted to take a bath, and sometimes it's just uncomfortably too cold when they finally get out. So, have you found the correlation to a warm shower and the beautiful gift of God's never ending forgiveness and grace?

We are in college. We face a ridiculous amount of temptations every day. These temptations appear fun: parties, un-Godly relationships, staying up too late which causes you to cheat on a paper, gossiping, and a whole host of other things. These temptations are the dirt that we have from playing all day. We do not want to leave them behind to live a holy life through God's free grace. But God, being the loving, smarter parent directs us into the shower. In it, He pours out His never-ending love and forgiveness. This forgiveness, is free, and sometimes it is painful, sometimes we have to get soap in our eyes, but we are cleansed.

Dear Heavenly Father, every day I face temptations, and every day I fall into them. Thank You for the grace which removes my dirt and guilt. Help me to face these temptations as Your child, Your loved, cleansed child. Grant me the courage to say "no" and to bring glory to You in my life. In Jesus' precious name, Amen.