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.
This is a well trodden verse used by many an evangelist to show that the Lord is able to remove the stain of our sins.
But it hit me afresh this morning, that the Almighty God should want to make time to sit down and reason with us.
Having never been a parent, I've never had to discipline a child when it misbehaves, but I have been a naughty child!
I don't remember my dad reasoning with me when I misbehaved!! I just got the discipline - full stop.
But here, in this verse, we see our Heavenly Father's patient loving heart looking down the telescope of the ages to the eternal victory of the cross.
There, where justice and mercy meet, we are able to be cleansed of the deepest guilt.
Well, is this just a passport to continue to go our own selfish way? Not at all, it's a fantastic offer of a reboot, reformat of our life's "hard drive" with a new operating system downloaded into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
In Ezekiel 36, God tells how it will be done:
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
This morning the awful job of cleaning out the shower drain was on our agenda. My nearest and dearest wanted to take some of the dirty water I had used to clean the drain filter to wash around the shower drain! I said, you don't use dirty water to make something clean! Then promptly gave him some water fresh from the tap. Well, I had to reason with him, didn't I?
Equally, we can't use the dirty water of our own good deeds to make us clean and acceptable in God's sight. We need the cleansing blood of Jesus to erase our stains.
You may feel you've sunk too low to be forgiven, but the good news of Jesus is that you can have a brand new start, a clean slate.
Let God reason with you anew this morning. Let the precious blood of Jesus work like a spiritual form of "Vanish" on the stained clothes of your life.
Soak in the finished work of the Cross of Jesus and be born anew.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Comments