Cleaning Our Mess (Friday Devotional)

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

- 1 John 1:8-9

Sundays in my family are a gauntlet. My day starts at 4:30 AM with a couple hours reviewing my sermon before the family wakes up, and once they do we’re off to the races—everyone needs to get dressed and ready, the kids need to eat breakfast, and everybody needs to be at the church by 8:30 for a full morning of volunteering, Sunday School, worship, and more. After Sunday morning, either Lindsey or I inevitably have a meeting that night (or two or three) and perhaps a churchwide activity to attend as well. By bedtime, our whole family is wiped out.

With all that going on, we often feel like we’re swimming upstream on Sundays—mistakes will be made, corners will be cut, and somebody’s going to throw a tantrum at some point (we all just hope it’s one of the kids.) But every now and then, there will be a golden Sunday where we’re hitting all our marks. Everybody wakes up with a good attitude and ready to move, everybody minds their Ps and Qs in public, and we proceed through the day like a well-oiled machine. I can’t say it happens often, but we dare to dream!

This past Sunday gave all appearances of being one of those special days. Everybody was on their best behavior all morning, we never felt too rushed, and by lunchtime it seemed that we were on a glide path to a perfect Sunday. Then I walked the kids out to the car to load everyone up and saw it: the big brown crayon melted into a puddle on the front passenger seat, having sat in the direct sun for the last 3 hours. Our flawless day—not to mention our clean leather seat—had encountered its first, inevitable flaw.

The Bible tells us that we’re a lot like that—no matter how perfect we may appear to be, no matter how spotless our record, we are stained by sin. There is no one who is righteous, Scripture tells us, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The truth is that perfection is entirely beyond your reach.

But equally true is that Jesus has done what is necessary to cleanse you. Through his death on the cross, the penalty has been paid for your sin and the victory has been won, so that now by repenting and placing your faith in Jesus, you can know eternal life with God. By grace and through faith, what is stained can be made clean.

It’s easy to walk through life with the illusion that you’ve got it all handled, that perfection is achievable. But it doesn’t take much—something as small as a melted crayon—to remind you’re not perfect. So praise God for a Savior with the grace and the mercy to clean us up and make us new!