Ecclesiastes 9:8 (ESV)
Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking
on your head.
In the olden days there were two brothers, the elder good
and devout, the younger a libertine who reveled with unsavory companions. The
elder brother prayed for the younger and often begged him to change his life,
but all seemed in vain.
One night as the elder brother sat in his study reading,
the younger brother rushed into his room, begging, "Save me! The police
are after me! I have killed a man." There were bloodstains on his clothes.
The older brother grasped the situation immediately and
said, "I will save you. Let us change clothes." He took the
bloodstained suit of the criminal and gave him his white robe.
The two had barely dressed when the police arrived. They
had pursued the criminal from the place where the deed had been committed and
seized the brother in the bloodstained garment.
Brought before the judge, he pleaded guilty, saying,
"I bear the whole responsibility for the crime." Faced with the
evidence before him-the pursuit, the blood, the confession-the judge had no
doubt. He sentenced the man to death, then asked him his final wish. "Only
one," said the supposed criminal. "I want my brother to receive this
letter, which I have prepared for him, at the very moment I am hanged."
The wish was granted.
The next day, his brother received the letter. Opening
it, he read: "My beloved, at this very moment, I die in your place, in
your bloodstained clothes, for your crime-and I am happy to offer this
sacrifice on your behalf.
"But I would like you, in the white clothes I gave
you, to lead a life of righteousness and purity. I have no other desire!"
The younger brother, on reading these words, was taken by
remorse. He ran to stop the execution-but it was too late. Then he ran to the
judge to confess his crime, but the judge would not listen to him. "A
murder was committed; it has been expiated. What was between you two brothers
is of no interest to us."
After that, as often as his former comrades in revelry
called the young lad to drinking parties and loose living, he would say,
"In the white clothes left to me by the brother who gave his life for me,
I can no longer do the evil deeds I did before."
Because of the forgiveness that we have received because
of what Jesus has done for us we to our covered with white clothes we should no
longer participate in evil deeds.
Dear Lord, thank You for covering us with your spotless
clothes. Help us not give into the evil
thoughts or deeds. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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