Does anyone know what that piece in the middle of the washer is called? The part in the middle that moves back and forth and shakes the clothes back and forth? What is that called? I’m going to call it an Agitator. What is the purpose of the Agitator? As far as I can tell, its sole purpose is to cause havoc with dirty clothes. It’s there to shake and separate the clothes from all the dirt and grime and money that may be in or on the clothes. It shakes up the water poured upon the clothes. It makes the detergent infiltrate every nook and cranny of our clothing.
The Holy Spirit saves us by taking out our old hearts of stone and putting into us hearts of flesh that love God. But, he doesn’t have our hearts to himself. There are still a lot of things in there that he has to work out of us, mainly, our own selfish desires. Even though we have been saved from our past sins, there still remain some things of the world that we are still fond of. These things of the world have a way of attaching themselves to us like dirt on clothes. They can stain us, they seemingly won’t come out.
(Glenn Newton, The Agitator, 5/3/2005, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/20631/holy-spirit-attributes-by-glenn-newton)
Point: However, the nature of the Holy Spirit doesn’t allow him to live in a dirty environment. So, he begins to gently and lovingly agitate and shake us. He convicts us of the things that need to leave our hearts. You see, God wants us to be filled with his Spirit. Many times our spiritual life feels like we are in a washing machine. The Holy Spirit constantly causes agitation within us by convicting us of the things that need to be removed from our lives. The truth is it is God’s will for all his children to be filled with the Spirit. This day, plead with his Spirit to clean you from the inside out!