Sunday January 5

God Wears Red-Tinted Glasses

Is. 1: 18 …Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson they shall be like wool.

Hey, here is an interesting experiment you can do. Get a piece of red-tinted glass or plastic or cellophane and look through it. Everything will look red-tinted. (Did I hear somebody say “d-uh!”?) Ok. But now, look at something red and – aha! It looks white! You know, it reminds me of today’s text. When I am full of sin – red, scarlet, corrupt – God looks at me through the red blood of Jesus and I look clean and white!

But what does all of that really mean? Well, you see, all of us are sinners. Even when we try hard we fail to be as good as we should be. All of us deserve to die because “the wages of sin is death”. Death is the punishment, the price we pay as sinners. We would disappear forever, never to come back. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for us. Jesus has never sinned so He was qualified to die for our sin. He did that when He died on the cross. John 3:16 tells us that if we believe in Jesus we will not have to die but will have everlasting life. In other words, we will not disappear forever but will instead live forever.

So here it is: if we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, repent of our sins and try to live for Him, at the time of judgement, even though we have made mistakes God will be looking at our red imperfections through the red blood of Jesus and we will appear clean and white. You see, God will accept Jesus death as the price for your sin and for mine, and His perfect life as a substitute for our sinful lives. We will be seen as if we never, ever sinned. That’s true! He says He will forgive our sins and remember them no more. Awesome, isn’t it?

Lord, thank you for Jesus and for the great plan you have made to take away my sin. I choose to accept Him today and thank you that my sins are all forgiven, in Jesus’ name, amen.