For Christmas one year, I was given a book of 300 writing prompts. The prompts are often silly, trivial things like, "Why is _____ your favorite color?" Sometimes there are deeper ones: "What is your greatest blessing?" And there are the occasional silly prompts that make you think creatively, like, "What if humans didn't have noses?" The other day, I stumbled across a prompt that really made me think. It asked, "You have magic soap. What does it wash away?"

I thought about this for a second. What is one thing that I wish I could wash away, erase or eliminate? I have a lot of little flaws that I don't care for — my forehead seems a little too big in my opinion, I worry too much and I might be a bit of a know-it-all occasionally. But, after some deliberation, I decided that I would keep all of these things.

In fact, I really don't need that soap. I have something much better.

I finally wrote this:

My perfect soap washes away all my insecurities. I am loved when I am washed by this soap. I am cleansed. I am perfected. But, this is not soap. This is the blood of Christ. I am immersed. I am forgiven. My clothes are now white as snow, because Jesus died for me. I need no soap. I need nothing but his perfect love.

I was baptized at the age of 8, three days before my ninth birthday. All on my own, my 8-year-old self decided to be born again and be united with Christ to begin my life as a follower. It was an amazing feeling to be given a clean slate that was free from sin.

However, as an 8-year-old, I don't think I fully grasped the immensity of my decision to be baptized. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I knew that I would need be truly connected with God after this decision, but did I understand how life-changing this choice was?

Today, as a young adult, I realize exactly how important that day is and always will be to my life. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, I have hope for eternal life.

This is where the soap comes in. Humans are sinful, and our sin separates us from God. But because Jesus came down and died on the cross, we are now able to live clean lives. No, we will never be spotless. We will always make dumb mistakes, make the wrong choices and mess up. But, Jesus says that's OK. He loves us in our brokenness and our sin because He has washed away every fault and blemish we have.

Think about that the next time you wash your hands. Do you want to be clean on earth, or do you want to be clean in eternity?