Concerning Shirts, Stains, and Sin
We had another laundry blunder yesterday. I left a couple of pens in a shirt which as you have already guessed, left several pieces of clothing forever blue-stained. No amount of home remedies for stains could remove these; they were just too deep into the threads of the clothes to be erased. When ink gets into the very threads, the very fabric of clothes, piercing the surface to saturate until there is nothing left unaffected, then stains cannot be removed.
It often feels like that with my sin, and in a sense it is like that. Sin is in the very fabric--the warp and woof (as they used to say) of my soul. O "what can wash away my sin?" the old song asks. Indeed what can cleanse what has stained the soul?
"Nothing...but the blood...of Jesus."
Today I read Mark's account of the crucifixion, and was moved by the cry of dereliction and forsakenness on the cross. Mark tells us that following that cry was another cry--which the other writers tell us was: "It is finished."
The cry of dereliction was the cry of the One damned in my place pouring out His soul as an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10), to cleanse us from every sin stain of the soul. The cry, "It is finished" was His statement that that cleansing had been completed.
It was as if Jesus was a soul-launderer, standing over the sin-stained souls of all His beloved, pouring out His blood to pierce through to the very fabric of our being, to cleanse, to whiten, to restore. And when it was done, He looked at His work and said: "It's finished! The sins are washed away, the stains are removed, My chosen are clean. Look! It is done!."
My shirts will never be stain-free again; but my soul is.
It often feels like that with my sin, and in a sense it is like that. Sin is in the very fabric--the warp and woof (as they used to say) of my soul. O "what can wash away my sin?" the old song asks. Indeed what can cleanse what has stained the soul?
"Nothing...but the blood...of Jesus."
Today I read Mark's account of the crucifixion, and was moved by the cry of dereliction and forsakenness on the cross. Mark tells us that following that cry was another cry--which the other writers tell us was: "It is finished."
The cry of dereliction was the cry of the One damned in my place pouring out His soul as an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10), to cleanse us from every sin stain of the soul. The cry, "It is finished" was His statement that that cleansing had been completed.
It was as if Jesus was a soul-launderer, standing over the sin-stained souls of all His beloved, pouring out His blood to pierce through to the very fabric of our being, to cleanse, to whiten, to restore. And when it was done, He looked at His work and said: "It's finished! The sins are washed away, the stains are removed, My chosen are clean. Look! It is done!."
My shirts will never be stain-free again; but my soul is.
"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
Where sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains."
posted by Tim Shorey at
9:32 AM
2 Comments:
The news that never gets old! It's not Tide that gets the stain out, but only faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I'll remember your sins no more." I know for myself that I desperately need to embrace this truth every day of my life. And truly, truly, "a new song is placed in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God"
Lately I've felt heavy about my sin which seems to affect every area. Failing in many ways as a dad, in some ways as a husband and spiritual leader; failures in zeal for truth and love for others, failing in the joy of the Lord. Sinful judging of others when I do just the same as them... and on and on. At times it feels like everything about me is just wrong.
And so, I cast my helpless self on the Lord. Holiness in my own strength??? I threw that towel in a long time ago. There is so little I do that is consistently good and praiseworthy. But he loves me, forgives me, and carries me anyway.
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