Singin' In The Rain

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;” (Titus 3:5-6 AV)

That which was shed on us abundantly is the mercy of God by the washing and renewing of the Holy Ghost.  One cannot separate the former from the latter.  The mercy of God is innate unless it is applied.  The mercy of God is not a benign emotion, but rather, an exercise of His will.  God does not feel merciful toward us without manifesting that mercy in some way.  In the above verse, Paul reveals one way in which His mercy is manifested.  There is the washing of regeneration.  We often associate the phrase ‘born again’ with regeneration.  Regeneration is the new birth.  Regeneration is passing from death to life in a very dramatic way.  Compared to the birth of a baby, being born again is as much a process as an event.  And the event comes with a lot of commotion.  The renewing follows regeneration.  Renewing is what we might consider growth.  Growing in the nurture and admonition of the LORD.  This renewing is the process by which we are transformed into Christlikeness.  When Paul speaks of the mercy of God which was shed abundantly, he is not speaking of a passive amount of mercy.  He speaks of a watershed of God’s blessing.

I grew up in a very unique part of the country.  I grew up about twenty miles from Niagara Falls, NY.  There were some very memorable events associated with living so close to one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  I knew the Falls like the back of my hand. Anything there was to see that didn’t cost anything, I knew of.  I had been to Goat’s Island more than any other attraction in western NY by one hundredfold.  Seeing the Falls in all four seasons was rather special.  My favorite of all places is the Top Of The Falls restaurant.  One of the most memorable things about living so close to the Falls was our weather.  Living almost due east of the Falls, our weather was heavily impacted by it.  We had cotton ball clouds all the time.  Our snow was measured in feet and not inches.  One of my special memories was summer downpours.  Because of the mist of the Falls, we had these brief and heavy downpours.  They didn’t last long at all. Perhaps five to ten minutes at the most.  My Mom, being the great mother she was, would send us out in the rain to play.  It would be extremely hot and this was back in the day when no one could afford air conditioning.  The only way to cool off was to get drenching wet.  I can’t explain it.  I have never seen anything like it since I moved away four decades ago.  The downpours were so heavy, it was like standing under a tap or hose.  It took less than a couple of minutes to get completely soaked.  It was so hot out, it felt great and to run around soaking wet was not uncomfortable at all.  It was awesome!

This is the picture of the mercy of God Paul is trying to convey.  The thought that jumped into my mind was twofold.  The older we got, the more we didn’t want to play in the rain.  We thought it too childish or inconvenient.  The second thought was that of mud.  Rather than relish in the cleansing nature of the downpour, we found puddles of mud to play in.  The rain had washed all the grim and salt from our faces and bodies and we went to the dirtiest places we could find and played in it.  If the LORD is going to go through the effort to shower us with mercy by regenerating a dead soul and transforming us into Christlikeness, we should do as Gene Kelly did.  We should sing in the rain.  If the LORD is going to shower His mercy on us abundantly, we should enjoy the experience rather than try to escape it or mare it.  What a wonderful feeling to know God has forgiven us.  What a blessing beyond all measure the transformation of the sin-sock soul into Christlikeness is.  Praise be to God for His abundant mercy!