“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool”. Isaiah 1:18 (NLT)

Have you ever had an appointment or event, in which you really wanted to impress people? Perhaps you went on a diet, purchased new clothes, got a new haircut or manicure, just for the event. All this done, in hopes of impressing people. Hoping that perhaps they might think you were something you really were not. Or maybe they would think that you were a person of status or prominence. And, we do all of this in hopes of deceiving people into thinking we are someone other than who we really are. And I say “we” because I have done alllll of those things!

The sad part is, all that pomp and circumstance that we go through and the only person deceived, is us. (If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Galatians 6:3). We aren’t fooling anyone, least of all God.

Sometimes we feel that we have to put on heirs, like that, for God. I have even had people, whom I have asked to church or whom I have had discussions about faith, with say to me, “I’d have to clean myself up, before I could come to church or to God”. That is like a kid who has cut school for a month saying, “I have to get all my homework done before I can come back”. Yeah, because the teacher doesn’t know you didn’t do it. Sorry, a little sarcasm there ; ). God already knows who you are. He knows what you have done. Trying to be “good” or to “clean ourselves up”, isn’t going to change that. But the good news is that He loved you in spite of all that. (We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19).

God doesn’t want to have relationships with perfect people. He wants to have relationships with the whole, lying, cheating, stealing, filthy, angry, sin stained world. (For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have ever lasting life. John 3:16).

He doesn’t want relationships with perfect people, because THERE ARE NO PERFECT PEOPLE.

Jesus Christ, came as a person, lived, glorified God, was betrayed, beaten, crucified and died. And, in that death we find life (Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, John 11;25). In that death we find all the “cleaning up” we will ever need. (But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7). God provided the Perfect Cleanser for our sin stained souls. His name is Jesus.

Because of Jesus death, we can be forgiven. On that cross, where He suffered and died, He paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world (
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2). But, if we don’t repent of our sins (ask for forgiveness) and accept that forgiveness, our debt (that only perfection can cancel) will go unpaid and we will suffer the consequences for all of eternity (And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matthew 25:46). Jesus is that forgiveness. He can cancel our debt. He can cleans us from all unrighteousness. (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9).

One of the most beautiful aspects of Jesus crucifixion, and the reason that we have hope for our eternal lives, is that Jesus didn’t stay dead. After 3 days, He rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven (For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

As followers of Jesus Christ (those of us who have recognized that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but that He is the one who was sacrificed and paid the price for our sins. And, because of His sacrifice, we have asked God for forgiveness and then asked Jesus to be Lord of our lives) we have eternal life (Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:36). Nothing can change that (I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28).

But not all of those, whom we love and care about, do. How much do you love them? How much do you care about them?

For their sake and that of their eternal souls we must not only live a life that glorifies God, but we must TELL them! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one gets to God, apart from Him (Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. John 14:16). What are we waiting for? Jesus could come back for us at any moment, are we really willing to risk waiting one more day, one more hour, one more minute?

I pray that today we would grasp the urgency with which the world (and those that we love and care about) need to hear about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. I pray that the Holy Spirit within us would stir us and cause us to be so unsettled that we would not be at peace until we tell whomever we know, that needs to hear. I pray that we would be so overwhelmed by the lengths that our Heavenly Father has gone to, to insure our salvation, that out of sheer gratitude we would be willing to risk any earthly relationship, to tell them about their need for a Savior, their need for Jesus. I pray that God’s love would never have been more beautiful or real, than it is in this very moment.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and you are reading this blog, I promise you that it is no coincidence. God knew you would read it and He is calling out to you. You too, may have thought that you needed to clean yourself up, before coming to God. Or, you may have thought that you needed to be a better person, before you could come to Him. I assure you that the sins of this world have stained you, just as they had me.

But, God provided the perfect cleanser. The only way to remove that stain is through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I pray that right now, you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Not only does God want to clean you up, He wants to give you a new life and a hope and a future….an eternal future in Heaven with Him.

Please pray that prayer and once you have, reach out to me at Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know. I’d love to be in prayer for you.

Luv Ya!