College students are notorious for their laundry problems while away at college. This seems to be especially true for freshmen. It is not uncommon, of course, for a student to put this task off for as long as possible. In fact, you can sometimes tell that students on campus will soon be dealing with their laundry when they start wearing the nicer clothing that they have. Sometimes they have been known to store up dirty clothes in anticipation of a visit home, where they just know that Mom will be more than happy to help out.

One college freshman went to the laundry room in his dorm with a pile of dirty clothes. They were all bundled together inside an old sweatshirt. He was so embarrassed by how dirty his clothes were that he did not want anyone to see them. He took the bundle of dirty clothes and without untying them stuffed them into the washer. When the machine stopped running he was delighted to find that they were still all tied together in one large knot. As he removed the bundle from the washer he kept them tied together as he placed the laundry into the dryer. After they had gone through the drying cycle he was even happier to find that the tied bundle was still intact.

When he finally returned to his dorm room he quickly discovered that the clothes had certainly gotten wet and were dried but they were still dirty. That is the same thing that happens to us when we fail to confess our sins. When we never admit to God our helplessness and our need for his power, we too keep the bundle all tied up. When we go to church and simply go through the routine we might get wet but we never really feel very clean. Only confession of our sins and faith in Christ can cleanse us from all our sins. Adapted from Michael Green, editor, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House), p. 336.