While washing a load of clothes, I recently noticed how dirty my washing machine had become. Now, you would think a machine designed for cleaning wouldn’t need cleaning itself. Yet, detergent had built up around the top; fabric softener had gummed up in the middle … it was a mess.

As I cleaned the washing machine, still trying to work out how it could get so dirty, I realized our Christian life can get all ‘gunked’ up with the evil in this world.

We are called to be more than we are, but so many times we don’t want to move. We get complacent in our lives; we don’t want to be challenged or move from our comfort zone in our spiritual selves. Then a life that is designed for Christ, becomes caked with the goings on of the outside world. Our ‘washing machine’ gets full of gossip, backbiting and jealousy. A life designed by Christ to be a reflection of His great love has to be cleaned of the residue the world leaves behind.

Just because we claim to be a Christian does not mean we can sit back and do what we want. We must constantly strive to be better today than we were yesterday. We must allow Christ to finish the good work He began in us. We must keep moving – allowing God to work in our lives and clean the buildup of this thing we call life. It is not enough to just be called a Christian – we must also live like one.