A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

1 John 1:8-9; Psalm 103:8-12

 

A picture is worth a thousand words. Jesus often used stories to paint a picture to teach an important lesson. One of the most important lessons for us to learn is that if we repent, that is admit that we have sinned and turn from our sin, then He will forgive us. It’s as if we had never sinned.

 

This is a hard lesson to learn. Guilt and shame can attach themselves to your soul, like a cancer, and destroy you from the inside out. Here, coupled with several scriptures, are some of my own personal stories that have helped me to paint a picture to learn this invaluable lesson.

 

For years, after we moved to Columbus from Michigan, people would make some kind of

derogatory comment about Michigan until they found out I was a Michigan State fan. Apparently, that made me tolerable. However, the point had been driven home that nothing could be further apart from a Buckeye than a Wolverine.

 

Psalm 103

¹² …as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.  NIV

 

My Dad had an ink blotter on his desk when I was growing up. I can still remember him

blotting out the extra ink that was left after writing with his fountain pen. The blotter cleaned up many of his letters. The messiness would never be visible.

 

Isaiah 43

²⁵ “I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.     NIV

 

When I was a young boy, we took a vacation out west. One day on a mountainous road we pulled off to look at the scenery. There was a very deep ravine that you couldn’t see

the bottom, although you could hear a river below. Being a young boy, I threw a stone over the guardrail and waited to hear it hit the water. Imagine my surprise when a couple of angry men yelled to quit throwing those stones. Oops.

 

Micah 7

¹⁹ Once again you will have compassion on us. You will tread our sins beneath your feet; you will throw them into the depths of the ocean!       TLB

 

Recently, by brother and sister-in-law were visiting us. On Saturday night, as we were

getting ready to go out for dinner, my brother caught his pant leg on the toenail of his big toe and tore it off. There was a huge blood stain on the carpet. After using several different brands of carpet cleaner with much elbow grease, the stain was finally gone.

 

Isaiah 1

¹⁸ Come, let’s talk this over, says the Lord; no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool! TLB

 

Sometimes I like to tease my granddaughter when I have a small gift for her by hiding it behind my back and ask her to choose which hand it’s in. Of course, which ever one

she chooses I quickly switch the gift to my other hand. Eventually though, she gets the gift; but in the meantime it’s great fun… at least for me.

 

Isaiah 38

¹⁷ Surely it was for my benefit
    that I suffered such anguish.
In your love you kept me
    from the pit of destruction;
you have put all my sins behind your back.     NIV

 

A picture is worth a thousand words. No doubt, you have your own stories that could paint a picture of how God has removed your sins; blotted them out; thrown them away; cleaned them; hidden them or… you fill in the blank.

 

The bottom line is that our guilt and shame have been nailed to the cross with Jesus, so that we might live free from sin. Can you picture that?