A LICK, AND A PROMISE

By: Anita Mondragon

Has anyone ever heard that phrase? I heard it in my growing up years all the time.

We cleaned house twice a week when I was growing up. We’d clean on Tuesdays and Fridays. Fridays were the ‘deep clean’ days…in case someone showed up for dinner on Sunday. My dad was a Baptist preacher for over 40 years, and it was inevitable that someone from church would come for Sunday dinner! So mom wanted the house CLEAN!

My mom always said we should make the house spic and span on Fridays. Tuesdays were more like ‘pick up’ days…hence, her phrase, “Just give it a lick and a promise and we’ll do better on Friday.” Now in case you still don’t understand that phrase, it simply means: “Go over it lightly-pick up what is seen, and give it a promise to do better the next time around.”

I was thinking about this the other day. That’s how we are with God most of the time. When we ‘repent’ of our wrong doings, we go over our sins lightly. We ‘confess’ what we see on the surface without ever getting to the root of the problem. That’s why we keep doing the same sin over and over again! Oh, we ‘promise’ God to try and do better, but we never really let Him get down deep in our conscience or our heart and allow Him to clean house!

Tuesdays were easy…but Fridays were hard! It took time and effort to find all the hidden dirt and junk that cluttered up the house and made it dirty. Our Christian life is the same. We can go to church on Sunday, sing our songs, lift our hands and utter “Amen’s” until the cows come home…but if we fail to truly repent before God, and confess our sins, and ask him to cleanse us…it’s only a lick and a promise…an empty promise.

Do you want a clean heart? David said in Psalm 51:10-19: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”

If we want to bring the lost to Christ, a lick and a promise lifestyle won’t cut it! Let God give you a DEEP CLEANING! Let every day be a Friday in your heart and life!