The last few days have served up a Winter Wonderland in the Nashville area. I hope you enjoy this photo of a few of the kiddos in Westhaven milking their snow day for all it’s worth.
The fresh blanket of snow changes our perspective on nearly everything. The hills of Middle Tennessee look more like the majestic mountains that set the stage for holiday movies. The normally dull tones of our January grass and shrubs are covered, and everything looks clean and bright. In fact, all the other colors look more vivid against a backdrop of arctic white. The imagery and the loveliness are profound. Everywhere we look, friends, we’re powerfully reminded of the humble prayer of King David (Psalm 51:7): “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Do we really believe that?
Do we really believe that the grace of Christ is sufficient to cover all our sin? In reality, “covered” may be too weak a word. “Obliterated” would be more like it! Our past sin … our present sin … and even our future sin … completely done away with? That’s an amazing concept, if true, and I contend that it is. God has provided a way for all our sin and shame to be eradicated, and that Way is Jesus. In the words of William Cowper (1731-1800): “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”
Christ came to offer Himself as the perfect and complete sacrifice for our sins. By the shedding of His own blood on Calvary’s Cross, our Lord accomplished perfectly that to which every Old Testament sacrifice only pointed to, imperfectly. For those of us who are in Christ, the New Covenant that is ours is vastly superior! The saints of old may have understood their desperate need for their sins to be covered, but you and I know the rest of the story: “It is finished!”
It. Is. Finished. Now that’s a truth we ought to delight in when we put our heads on our pillows this evening!
I can’t add one thing to what Jesus has done for me, and I don’t need to. Nor can I subtract from what Jesus has done for me. It was His finished work on my behalf. It was His gift. His life. His death. His grace.
And now His life is mine. His victory is mine. His resurrection is mine! I can’t imagine why I would ever want it any other way.
Sometimes the devil likes to get us all knotted up in the haunting awareness of our own poor performance. But what we have to keep in mind is that Jesus Christ, even as He set His face toward Jerusalem, had perfect knowledge of our dumbest mistakes and our most grievous offenses. But He loved us, and He died for us, anyway. If we are in Christ, we never have to beg ourselves back into His favor, because His favor was settled more than 2000 years ago. We’re already in.
We are forever loved, y’all. White as snow, y’all. Sweet dreams.
Pastor Charles
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