Those Guilty Stains
By Shauna Leis
“’Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Jeremiah 2:22
Picking up my little girl, Grace, from preschool is such a fun time. We talk the whole way home about her day - what she has done, who she played with, what types of activities she did, and crafts she made. But, most importantly we talk about what she has eaten throughout the day – from breakfast in the morning, all the way through snack time in the afternoon. Now, there are times when I have to hold my tongue when she is trying to tell me about her lunch because I already have a pretty good idea what it might have been without seeing her papers or hearing her stories. How you might ask? Because the front of her shirt is covered in stains from the day’s meals – especially tomato soup. This particularly identifying material leaves a trail of red from the top of her neck line to the bottom of her shorts from the drippings. But, if you ask her, it is one of her favorite meals in the school cafeteria.
Then comes the fun of trying to get those stains out of the clothes during laundry. The fresh stains are the easiest to get out with a little stain treatment and a quick run through the washing machine. Ground in stains (like from my son’s football uniform) take a bit more work with some rubbing and extra stain treatment. Finally, there are those stains that have accidentally made it through the entire cycle without being treated. You know that feeling when you pull an article of clothing out of the dryer and see that stain staring back at you, taunting you to try to get it out now.
Precious friend, you and I have particularly identifying and hard to remove stains as well. These are stains of the guilt of our sin that have seeped their way into our lives. Our sins leave marks on our “spiritual” clothes throughout the day. Some are fresh stains – harsh words that we ask for forgiveness quickly. Others are a bit more ground in though – little lies that we tell throughout the day. We feel convicted the next morning to ask for forgiveness, but they would have been so much easier to get out when first told. Finally, there are those tough, dried in stains. These are those areas that mark our lives with guilt because we have never really confessed them to God and asked for forgiveness, sometimes for things done years ago. Dear one, no matter how big or how small, how recent or how long ago – God wants us to confess them to Him and allow His soothing balm to wash over us and make us new.
Ephesians 5:25-27 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Jesus can take all of those ugly, stained areas in our lives and wash them white as snow. He is better than any other stain treatment that we can throw on it ourselves. So many times, we try to “rub” it out ourselves so it does not look as bad when we bring it to Him. If only we would learn that we can save ourselves so much time and grief because He is much more efficient at the cleansing act than we are. After all, it is why He came to earth in the first place.
In Revelation the writer is experiencing a phenomenal vision of heaven. Chapter 7, verses 13-14 indicate, “Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’” Oh, I so long to be there in heaven, dipping my robe into the blood of the Lamb to make it white as snow. All of my guilty stains will be washed away in one dipping. No more stain treatment will be needed! What about you? Will you let Him cleanse your spiritual garments today? All it takes is a little trust in Him as your Savior and Lord and the cleansing will begin!
Pray with me: Dear God, oh Lord, we are so dirty. Our filthy lives do not belong in Your presence as a holy and righteous God. But, we know that we can bring all of our guilty stains to You, and You will remove them completely. There is nothing that we can do on our own to take them out, and we need You so much. Your sacrifice on the cross guaranteed that when we get to heaven, we can dip our dirty robes to make them white as snow. Lord, show us how to keep the stains from coming back, too. Teach us Your ways, and give us hearts like Yours so stains are prevented from ever making their way onto our spiritual garments.
God, teach us how to cleanse the inside of our lives first, and we know that the outside will soon follow. Our sole desire is to grow more and more like You every day. We love You so very much and pray all of this in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ! Amen!