Isaiah 1:18 AMPC
Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.
I have a lovely client who, quite inexplicably, loves cleaning. It never ceases to amaze me watching her, with beaming smile and shining rubber gloves, get stuck into cleaning the loo, the shower drain and a myriad of other places where dirt and grime congregate.
She usually sings to herself as she's working, happy as a lark.
I, on the other hand find it a squeamish business and put it off as long as possible until I can't stand it and have to take drastic measures - like yesterday morning! I went into the bathroom and thought: "No, this is awful, I have to clean it NOW!"
Our Heavenly Father is wants to clean us up and restore us to a pristine fellowship with Him. To His perfect eyesight, we are so, so dirty with with the mistakes we have made and need some radical remedial action in order to put things right.
In the passage today we see how God is foretelling a time when He will do a "once for all" clean up job on us and wash away the deep stains of our sins.
It's great to know that the God of the entire Cosmos wants to sit down and reason with us.
We may not be convinced that we need to be cleaned - our spiritual eyesight may have grown so dim that we don't see the state of our sinfulness.
So the Lord wants to take the time to reason it out with us individually.
This is where the Holy Spirit comes in - His task is to convince and convict us of where we are wrong and empower us to change.
The Good News of what Jesus did for us on the cross is the Ultimate Divine Deep Cleaning Job.
In the natural world, some dirt needs a special cleaning agent like limescale, curry sauce, grass or beetroot stains. It's no good to just wash with normal detergents, and, the longer we leave it, the harder it is to remove!
So with the stain of our sins, they can't be worked away by good deeds. They need the special cleansing that only Jesus' Blood shed on the cross can bring.
Wonderfully, we can each be made brand new when we come before God and confess our need of cleaning!
1 John 1:9 AMPC
If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
Ephesians 2:13 AMPC
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away, through the blood of Christ have been brought near.
A prayer:
Jesus, how can I ever thank You enough for going to the cross for me? Thank You for pouring out Your lifeblood so that I can be cleansed, set free and be near to You each and every moment.
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