The Magic Eraser - Dinner #4

     "Magic Erasers" are one of my favorite discoveries from college days.  Those little white sponges certainly work wonders!  I was recently cleaning the house for company, and found that I had one of these remarkable items stored under my kitchen sink.  As I began walking around the house, in search of a couple of scuff marks I’d noticed, I soon found more, and more, and MORE marks that needed removing!  On the walls, on the doors, on the doorframes . . . Scuffs from when we moved in, scuffs from the previous renter, dirt smudges . . . I was amazed!  How could we have lived in this house for over a month now, and me not notice all these? 

     The truth was, that sometimes I had taken notice that in general, some of the doors and walls were pretty unsightly, but I hadn’t really taken the time to realize that I could do something about it!  There was one streak so large on our living room wall, that my husband and I had debated about whether or not to hang a picture there to cover it up!  Now, as I wandered around, scrubbing things down with this magic eraser, I laughed as even the giant streak in the living room disappeared!  Why on earth had we lived with it like this for so many weeks?!  I had dusted, and vacuumed, and washed dishes, but let the smudges I walked by every single day go relatively unnoticed.

     While on my hands and knees, scrubbing down our front door, the thought came to me that as Christians we often do the very same thing.  We can have sin smudges galore and not even think about it!  How many things have remained, dirtying up our hearts and lives, without us even taking notice?!  Psalm 19:12 says, “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.”

     When hidden “heart-smudges” are present, we need to confess our sins before the Lord!  Yes, if we are Christians, He has already saved us from our sin, but we need to come to Him for a frequent cleansing of our hearts – ADMITTING to Him our daily wrongdoings, and TURNING AWAY from these sins.  He wants us to realize when we have done wrong.  I John 1:8-9 declares that, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

     How do we confess our sins before the Lord?  In Psalm 51, we see the example of King David, as he cries out in prayer:  “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

     We not only need to have our heart cleansed of sin by confession, but our life needs to be cleansed of things displeasing to the Lord as well.  These might be sinful habits, or even evil things we’re allowing to enter in through our eye-gate or ear-gate.  II Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”  Isaiah 1:16 says, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil.”

     What happens when we admit before the Lord that we have sinned?  Isaiah 1:18 promises us,  “ . . . though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  No more hidden dirt smudges and streaks!  Just like a magic eraser being used on your sin-stained heart, God washes you “white as snow” and makes you right with Him once more!