I am sitting here looking at a purple stain on my shirt sleeve. I have absolutely no idea where it came from. It looks like grape jelly but I haven’t been near grape jelly today. This is very much like character stains – flaws. Some of them we know of and there are others we don’t even know are there. We are so much in love with ourselves we are blind to them. If anyone should hint of their presence we are quick to rationalize and cover; not just from the people who spotted it, but mostly from ourselves. I am fearful if we should know the old Jack Webb thing, “just the facts and nothing but the facts,” we would despair and jump off a bridge.
Many years ago I was waiting for my car to be repaired when I heard someone say, “Call the stain man.” About twenty minutes later I saw a man arrive with a small case. I have always wondered what he had in there because a few minutes later he walked out with a big smile and some green pieces of paper folded in his hand. He must have been good. Oh, how many times in my life have I had to call my “stain man” and I have to tell you He is good – really good.
I have always loved Isaiah 1:18. “Says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” What is so grand about this is the promise isn’t only for the stains we know about, it is for the ones not yet known. Only Jesus knows them and what I love best is He will remove them and never tell us about them. We don’t need to know.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 16, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org