1 Corinthians 6:11 (New International Version)
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Here is a story told by a lady that has a great lesson for each of us to learn. She starts her story with… I had a kitchen disaster, when the frying pan I used burst into flames. I had put the pan on too high a flame, which caused the oil in the pan to overheat. When I put the wet vegetables into the pan, they spat out the oil and its vapour like a flailing, floundering swimmer. Consequently the flames were not slow to take up my gratuitous offer of a free excursion away from the hob!
The outcome of this little conflagration was black, heat-treated, carbonized soot all over the cooker hood, which is just what one does not want when one is tired in the first place. I put some cleaner onto a cloth and wiped, only to see the flame-treated black smiling rebelliously back at me, untouched by my feeble efforts.
Later that night, I saw this tarnished hood declaring its defiance and non-cleanness. I hate to leave things to the morning, so I put some washing-up liquid on a sponge, and the soot came off, just like that, clean as a whistle.
I was so surprised by the complete contrast between cleaners that I thought there must be more to this than just my inability to choose the right cleaner in the first place. Possibly, God was reminding me that no matter how hard we try to make ourselves clean, we cannot do it on our own -- just like my original rubbing ineffectually on the cooker hood air-filter.
There is only one effective cleanser from sin, in all its guises. Jesus is the one and only person with the capacity to lift off our spiritual crud, to forgive our failures, and to welcome us into heaven as saints with clean robes.
It is amazing that something as simple as making the right choice changes lives -- just like that! I know it did for me!
Dear Lord, forgive us for our failures and our sins. We rejoice that something as simple as making a decision to trust You with our lives can make so much difference. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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