The Big Stain

Read Isaiah 1:16-20

Adam’s eyes widened in horror as his elbow knocked the ink bottle off the desk, sending it crashing. Blue ink spread in a growing circle across his grandparents’ dining-room floor. Adam jumped down from his chair and quickly bent to pick up the bottle. What am I going to do? he wondered. I’ve got to clean this up before they see it.

Adam rushed into the utility room, grabbed some rags, and filled a small bucket with water. Coming back into the dining room, he began scrubbing . . . and scrubbing . . . and scrubbing the ink blob. But his efforts didn’t help much. In fact, they seemed to make things worse. What used to be only a small spot on the floor was now a very, very large ink spot. Oh! This is not going to work! Adam thought to himself. He knew he would have to tell his grandparents.

Grandma frowned when she saw the stain, but she knew it had been an accident. She quickly asked Grandpa to get cleaner from the garage, and soon all trace of the ink was gone.

“You know, Adam,” Grandpa said as they washed their hands with the special soap they had used to clean the floor, “maybe we can both learn a good lesson from what just happened.”

Adam looked up at him. “Not to fool around with ink, huh?” he asked.

Grandpa smiled. “Well, yes,” he said, “but I was thinking of an even more important lesson. The Bible tells us we’re all stained by sin, and no matter how hard we try, we just can’t clean it ourselves.” Grandpa dried his hands and continued. “But the Bible also says that Jesus died for us, and his blood can cleanse us completely of all of sin’s dark stain.”

Adam finished washing and looked at his hands. They were completely clean. “I needed soap to clean the floor and my hands, and I need Jesus to clean my heart, right?” he said.

Grandpa smiled and put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Right,” he said. “That’s exactly right.”

How about you?

Have all your sins been washed away? You can try to clean your heart and life by being good or doing good things, but it won’t work. Only Jesus can make you completely clean. Will you ask him to cleanse your heart from sin?

Memorize:

“No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. . . . Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.” Isaiah 1:18