blood, stains
reluctantly,
I left the house a few minutes early this morning,
knowing I had unpleasant business from yesterday to take care of
I had a fleeting thought as I unlocked the door to step onto the porch-
what if the cat returned and I find what my friend finds-
his cat leaves the heart and liver of mice it kills
then his daughter's dog comes by and slurps those up
I think that would be worse
so cautiously,
face half turned,
looking out of the corner of my eye
I approached the remains and found this:
maybe I interrupted the cat yesterday when I came home and it returned
maybe a different neighborhood cat stopped by last night
maybe a friend read my post and came by early this morning
I don't have to know the details to appreciate this fact:
someone else took care of the dirty work
sometimes you don't own the cat
but you do own the driveway
sometimes you clean up the mess
sometimes you get distracted and forget about it
sometimes it's taken of care for you
Tonight I cannot shake the thought that at one time I was dead because of my sin. My choices to sin created ugly, nasty, gross, messes in my life and in the lives of others. Messes I could not clean up. Messes other's were not responsible for, but I left for them to deal with. Messes that would still be laying around if God had not gently, patiently, persistently wooed me to Himself. His kindness led me to repentance.* His love draws me into an ever deepening relationship with Him. I am by no means perfect. He has cleaned up more messes for me than I can count and because of His work in my life those messes are not things to be hidden or denied, rather He has made them part of a message of hope, redemption and reconciliation as I share how my story fits into God's story. The stains of some of my sins remain, but the blood of Jesus justifies me and covers the shame of those stains.
I am forgiven.
I am loved.
I am saved.
"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
Romans 2:4 *
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5:6-11
I left the house a few minutes early this morning,
knowing I had unpleasant business from yesterday to take care of
I had a fleeting thought as I unlocked the door to step onto the porch-
what if the cat returned and I find what my friend finds-
his cat leaves the heart and liver of mice it kills
then his daughter's dog comes by and slurps those up
I think that would be worse
so cautiously,
face half turned,
looking out of the corner of my eye
I approached the remains and found this:
 |
| that's right, nothing but blood stains |
maybe I interrupted the cat yesterday when I came home and it returned
maybe a different neighborhood cat stopped by last night
maybe a friend read my post and came by early this morning
I don't have to know the details to appreciate this fact:
someone else took care of the dirty work
sometimes you don't own the cat
but you do own the driveway
sometimes you clean up the mess
sometimes you get distracted and forget about it
sometimes it's taken of care for you
Tonight I cannot shake the thought that at one time I was dead because of my sin. My choices to sin created ugly, nasty, gross, messes in my life and in the lives of others. Messes I could not clean up. Messes other's were not responsible for, but I left for them to deal with. Messes that would still be laying around if God had not gently, patiently, persistently wooed me to Himself. His kindness led me to repentance.* His love draws me into an ever deepening relationship with Him. I am by no means perfect. He has cleaned up more messes for me than I can count and because of His work in my life those messes are not things to be hidden or denied, rather He has made them part of a message of hope, redemption and reconciliation as I share how my story fits into God's story. The stains of some of my sins remain, but the blood of Jesus justifies me and covers the shame of those stains.
I am forgiven.
I am loved.
I am saved.
"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
Romans 2:4 *
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5:6-11
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