Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in your HomeSample

He Washes Us White As Snow

The cleaning products all promise the same thing—100 percent guaranteed to clean 99.9 percent of the bacteria and grime. And they all fail to deliver perfect cleanliness. The same goes for our attempts to get rid of our sin.

No matter how hard we scrub, we cannot erase our iniquity. We put patches over it, hide the offending sin, and deny its presence. But the shame of our sin is like the phantom stain on a shirt that re-appears after you’ve dried it. Given the right circumstances, the heat and pressures of life will bring out the sin in your heart that you thought simply faded away. Try as we may, we are powerless to erase our sin. We need forgiveness and cleansing that only the Lord can provide.

Perhaps you feel like you’ve worked hard on eliminating the gross sins in your life to make yourself “as clean as you’re ever going to get.” When we minimize our sin in this way we are actually missing out on worshiping God. When we recognize and adore his utter holiness while living in an awareness of our sinfulness in contrast to his perfection, we (sinful creatures) honor a holy God. Only then can we see our need for a Savior, and worshipfully appreciate the atonement for our sin accomplished by Jesus on the cross. After all, if we have no sin, or if we’re “doing just fine,” then why did the Lamb suffer on our behalf?

God will not hold sins against you that he has held onto his Son’s dying body on the cross. Would you trust him to bear your sin away?