Draw Yourself a Bath

I should have known I needed to be more specific with a little boy that’s prone to distraction.  He’d handled all the snakes and frogs he’d cared to for the day, abandoned his tree fort, left the makeshift dirt bike trail (which at our house meant a dirty bike on a plain old trail), and come into the house with enough soil behind his ears and between his toes to grow a decent crop of pumpkins.

“Draw yourself a bath”, I told him while I stood before the open refrigerator door, begging for something to jump out and declare it wanted to be supper.

Too few minutes later, he stood in the kitchen, at least as dirty as when he’d headed for the bathroom.

“Did I not tell you to draw yourself a bath?”

“I did.”

“Did you, like, get into the tub?”

“Oh.”

Walking past a full bathtub is about as effective as walking past a Bible full of answers. Technically, yes, my son followed directions and filled the tub. I’m a little surprised he didn’t draw his bath with pencil and paper, frankly.

Do I do that with God’s Word? Do I glance at the pages of Scripture and expect to get clean because I was in the vicinity of Truth?  Do I hope the answers will jump out of the “tub” without my having to jump in?

PRAYER: Lord God, I don’t want to walk past Your Word and presume that’s enough to fill me, cleanse me, and teach me.  Your Word on my table or nightstand isn’t enough.  I don’t want to “draw a bath” of the water of Your Word. I want to plunge right in!

“…even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word…” Ephesians 5:25b-26 KJV.

Today’s devotional is by Cynthia Ruchti, writer and producer of the radio ministry THE HEARTBEAT OF THE HOME and current president of American Christian Fiction Writers. Cynthia’s debut novel—They Almost Always Come Home—releases from Abingdon Press in Spring 2010.  Cynthia writes stories of hope that glows in the dark. www.cynthiaruchti.com.