Covered in Mud

Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. Acts 10:15 NLT

Years ago, on a hot summer afternoon, my kids—about five and three—were outside running through the sprinkler in their bright little swimsuits, laughing and squealing with delight. I went inside to start dinner and could see and hear their happy voices drifting through the screen door.

Then the phone rang.

What should have been a quick conversation turned into something much longer. When I finally hung up, I noticed something every parent knows can stop your heart for a second.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

I looked outside. The sprinkler was gone, and so were the kids. Panic set in as I hurried out the back door.

And there they stood.

Two completely naked little bodies covered from head to toe in mud.

My son had apparently decided to make a giant mud pit in the flower bed and, not wanting to ruin his swimsuit, took it off before fully committing to the experience. Naturally, his little sister followed his lead.

They looked at me, waiting for my reaction.

Instead of scolding them, I burst out laughing.

The whites of their eyes and giant grins stood out against all that mud like fireworks in the night sky. After hosing them off and scrubbing them clean in the bathtub, they were finally recognizable again. My only regret is that I didn't take pictures.

I certainly didn't spend the rest of the evening referring to them as "those muddy kids."

They had been washed clean.

Which is why I love these words God spoke to Peter:

"Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean."

Because isn't that exactly what we do?

Jesus forgives us, washes us, and clothes us in His righteousness, but we keep pointing to the mud. We replay old failures, carry old shame, and wear labels Jesus died to remove.

We label ourselves by our worst moments—the divorce, the addiction, the affair, the abortion, the angry words, the secret nobody else knows.

Meanwhile, God says, "I already washed that."

If you belong to Christ, your sin is not your identity. Your shame is not your name. Your past is not your future.

So stop arguing with grace. Stop dragging around guilt that Jesus already carried to the cross. Stop calling unclean what God has made clean.

Because the mud may explain where you've been.

But it no longer tells the truth about who you are or where you're going.

You are loved!