You Can’t Clean Yourself Up, But God Can!

I am the Lord who makes you holy. (Exodus 31:13b)

“Religion isn’t for me. I’ve done too much wrong,” a man quietly said. Do you feel like that?

Carlos met Jesus in prison. Junie was having an affair with a married man and Mark was cheating his customers. Each needed spiritual healing, and God powerfully did that miracle in their lives. Because when Jesus finds us, He starts with us right where we’re at. Right there, in our destructive habits, wrong relationships and struggles. He welcomes us to come to Himself.

God declares in the Bible, “I am the God that heals you” (Exodus 15:26). Our spiritual healing takes place when we admit our need for Him, when we acknowledge His payment for our sin, ask for His forgiveness and surrender our lives to His control. Scripture calls what happens then “justification.” It’s like a permanent legal ruling that declares, we were once guilty, but God has declared us righteous forever.

In the Bible, God gave His people very detailed instructions as to how to live, with a huge emphasis on spiritual and physical cleanliness. After people were healed, they needed to be cleansed by the priests—it was impossible for them to do it for themselves.

God reminded His people, “I am the Lord, who makes you holy” (Exodus 31:13b). So, when we come to Jesus, we aren’t doing the “cleaning up” of our lives in our own willpower. The Bible calls this process “sanctification,” and it describes the process of God cleaning us up to look like Him. It’s a relational act—a lifelong process—and it’s done by God’s Spirit that lives within the follower of Jesus.

Can’t clean yourself up? You’re right. But God longs to do the work in you so that you can live freely, in peace, by His strength.