Stuck in the Mud
Psalm 51:2 - Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
When I was 16 my best friend and I took his father's brand new Chevy Blazer and buried it above the axles in solid muck. It took three hours and a four-wheel drive tractor to pull us free before we raced to the car wash. We figured if we wash away the evidence we might not get in trouble.
And you know what? We didn't. However, I'm now 46 and I still think about how careless and thoughtless we were. I believe if we would have come clean to Mr. Olson we would have had to make it up to him but we would have been forgiven. A couple years or so later Mr. Olson passed away and I guess I'll always feel a little guilty we didn't tell him.
Guilt is something that can stick to your insides worse than your grandma's lumpy oatmeal. Time can work like a glass of cold milk to loosen things up. But you know as well as I do, even after you drink the milk, it's still there, and it ain't goin' anywhere real soon.
Jesus' blood on the other hand is the only sure way to wash away our sin and guilt. When we recognize our sin and ask Jesus to wash us clean we can be assured of our forgiveness and free from the muck of our guilt. We pray with King David, "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." And in Jesus, we have been cleansed!
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: How does God's promise to forgive AND forget our sins help us when we can't forget? How does it help us to forget when we forgive others?
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: Ask God to forgive you for all the times you've taken his forgiveness for granted. Ask him to protect you from the lies of Satan that tempt you to hang onto your guilt and deprive you of the joy of forgiveness in Jesus!