Stains

As a mom of two young kids, I am the queen of laundry. My toddler is a magnet for dirt, food, and markers. There are so many stains that end up on her adorable outfits. Sometimes soaking, pre-treating, or stain-sticks promising to get the stain “the first time-or your money back!” make little or no difference and the item is ruined. Usually, these clothes are tossed in the trash or shoved to the bottom of the drawer for playing in the mud.

At the same time, we are magnets to sin and suffer from these stains in our lives. As Romans 3:23 says, we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We try to clean up our own lives and get rid of or hide our dirty laundry so God can’t see. But Christ, the Lamb without stain, died for us and by His blood we are made clean. God tells us in His Word, “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity…and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me” (Jeremiah 33:8). Praise the Lord I don’t have to worry about being tossed out or stuck in a drawer somewhere!

Even more than just having our sins excused is the beautiful picture God gives us in Isaiah 1:18, “…Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” God has taken all of our stains away and cleansed with His righteousness for His glory so that we can be used by Him to reach others. What a mighty stain-stick!