Monday, June 10, 2013

By: Gwen Hitt

"The Lord's Prayer" Series Day 7: "and forgive us our sins."

The Master Cleaner

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Having my daughter and her family living with us while their new house is being built has DEFINITELY increased the amount of laundry in our home. As I was reflecting on the necessity of washing clothes EVERYDAY in order to keep up, I began to ponder God's monumental cleaning task.

With a world population of 7 BILLION people, He must be continually bombarded with requests. Unfortunately, although God is willing and capable to forgive and cleanse all who seek Him, I truly believe that many of these individuals choose NOT to go to Him. They do so because they feel that they are leading good lives - maybe not spotlessly clean BUT not as bad as the lives of some that they know!

Sadly, no matter how much we desire to do good, we all have flaws. When Jesus was asked in Matthew 19:17 what good things must be done to gain eternal life, He replied "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One Who is good. If you want to enter the Kingdom, obey the commandments."

"Only One is good - you must obey the commandments to gain eternal life" ...... I believe that these words from Jesus were spoken and recorded in order for us to realize that none of us are "GOOD" based on our own merit.

Isaiah 64:6 even refers to our righteousness or righteous living as "filthy rags." While these filthy rags can be very discouraging, there is a Master Cleaner for all of our dirty laundry! The Bible reveals how we are made righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

My challenge to you today is to do what we are directed to do in The Lord's Prayer - ask God to forgive your sins. He can AND desires to remove every stain in our lives. However, we have to first realize that our "goodness" is not what purifies us. It's the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins. By asking Him to forgive our sins and living in obedience to Him, we are made righteous and can inherit eternal life.

Dear Father, Thank You for loving me enough to forgive and cleanse me when I call on You. I am so very grateful to You for the grace and mercy that You have made available to me.

I also thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.