What God Hath Cleansed, That Call Not Thou Common

"And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." (Acts 10:15). After we have been forgiven and cleansed from sin, we sometimes are tempted to slip back into old modes of thinking, especially thinking of ourselves as our old, common, unclean selves. Even though we have received the miracle of forgiveness, we still cling to the notion that this old leopard does not change its spots. We might temporarily be on a new and improved path, but we're going to fall back down into the pit any minute now. The moment that we turn from our Savior and set at nought His great sacrifice is not the moment that we choose to return to an old vice or to lose our temper or engage in lying or gossip or hateful acts of violence. The moment we trample under foot the gift of forgiveness happens just before we act out. It is the moment that we choose to call common or unclean or a sinner that which God has cleansed. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13). It is only when we call ourselves common that temptation has the power to overtake us. When God cleansed us, He gave us a way out. He made us uncommon, peculiar, and thus no longer subject to the temptations that plague the common men and women. We are children of God and heirs to the Celestial Kingdom. We are not common. Jesus Christ bled from every pore and died so that we can be cleansed and made whole and strengthened sufficiently to bear any and all temptations that come our way. How dare we call ourselves common and unclean after all that Christ did to cleanse us? How dare we believe that just because we once were a screwup then we must always be a screwup? God does not forgive us to no purpose. Christ did not spill His precious blood for no reason. If we have been forgiven and cleansed, it is because God has looked into our soul and He has seen our noble worth and has concluded that we are not common, not a lost cause, not a hopeless case, not unworthy of being saved. If we can't see the good inside of us, then we need to trust that God sees it, and that He will bend all of His might, His power, and His will to bringing out the good in us, refining and purifying and cleansing us until we glisten and gleam like the pure, noble gold that we have always been and will always be. I know that every moment we choose to not call common that which God has cleansed is a moment that we honor our Savior's sacrifice and show our gratitude for our forgiveness and escape and bear all of those temptations that used to have effect on us back when we were common, but can't affect us at all as long as we choose to not call ourselves common but cleansed, forgiven, redeemed and saved.