Though You Wash with Lye and Soap

I have been making soap. The quantities are so small, I do not think Cussons need harbour any fears just yet. It all came from a soap-making ‘kit’ sent by a relative for a birthday or Christmas. All the chemistry was done for me, I simply had to melt, mold, add dried petals, talcum and droplets of scent. I made about a dozen bars. They lather well enough, but the soap seems just a tad greasy for my liking, even when dry. Still, I enjoyed the process, and have begun to give them away as cheap but meaningful gifts. Says Jeremiah:

For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,

Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.

I haven’t tried my soap on any serious stains, but it does a good job of washing the hands and leaving behind a feeling of cleanness. Yet the prophet here bespeaks inner cleanness, a purity of the heart. For this, there is no soap so powerful that it can scrub the soul. For that, only Blood will suffice:

And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7b