washed

1 Corinthians 6:1-11; Psalm 149 Lord takes delight in his people; Lk 6:12-19

St.Paul in the reading today has many words to share about Christians living together in a community. The course of actions that we must be about, the shape our lives must take in the way we intersect with one another has a ruling principle, a foundation that determines the do's and don'ts. He sums up that principle of life and relationships based on one thing, "but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, yo were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God."

You have had yourselves washed.

Think about that for a moment.

We often spend alot of energy and time seeking that life changing experience. Perhaps it is going on retreat after retreat after retreat. For many, in these areas, the number of bracelets from the Acts Retreats is suppose to be the mark of a spiritually mature person.

But we know that is not true. Retreats don't make the man. In fact life isn't about becoming a man or woman, spiritually mature. Rather, it is the Man,Jesus, who makes us all Children, this is the life changing reality.

It isn't something we do, rather it is something we recieve. We have been washed by the water...

When it all comes down to it, it is baptism that makes all the difference, or at least it is suppose to...As St. Paul says, "You have been washed."

You have been given the power, grace, honor, the duty to live differently for you now have Christ living in you.

This reality must change everything. It changes how we relate, how we handle "cases' amongst brothers. It is a "failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another."

Think about that...those words of St. Paul are an invitation to a new life, a life we have access to in Christ in the waters of baptism...

How do you live out your baptismal promise and life? When is the last time you dipped you hand in the water font at Church and realized you cannot and must not live like all the rest. You cannot give into the peer pressure of the world but you must change it for the better for Christ.

Then St. Paul goes on to say, "do not be decieved." Do not be sucked in to the secular vacuum that seeks to devour your soul. Don't think that you can do whatever you want. There is a great responsibility that comes with the washing we have recieved.

Do our lives show it?

"Do you not know the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God...niether fornicators (those who seek sexual pleasure outside of lawful marriage), nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor boy prostitutes, nor sodomites (homosexuals who are active in seeking sexual pleasure), nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom..."

There are some behaviors that are no longer options for those who have the power of Chirst living in them, those who have died with Christ in baptism and have risen with Christ.

The problem with most Christians is they want to go to heaven but they do not want to renounce the acts that will keep them from there. There are many like in Corinthian who want to remain nominally christians and think that because they have been baptised or accepted Christ they can do whatever they want...St. Paul seems to think otherwise as does the Church.

You have been washed, praise God, but do so in a life that has been changed for the better.

A song by needtobreathe that can be inspiring if understood correctly, Washed in the water click here