STAIN
Today's reading: Isaiah 1-3

"Come now, let us argue this out, says the Lord. No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool." Isaiah 1:18 NLT

Stain-a soiled or discolored spot; a taint of guilt; a dye or pigment capable of penetrating the pores of wood.

Do you realize the effort required to remove a stain?

Whether it be the scrubbing to get out a grass stain from the knees of jeans, a coffee spill on a white blouse or a dribble of spaghetti sauce on the tablecloth, stains require effort.

Think for a moment about the stain on a piece of old furniture.

Maybe you've attempted to refinish Grandma's sewing machine table or a Hoosier cabinet or an old end table?

You know the elbow grease needed to get through to the unstained wood, past where the stain has penetrated the top layer.

God's redeeming power goes deeper!

He gets out the stains left on us from rubbing up against the world.

He gets the stains out we receive from falling--again and again, against the hard ground.

He gets the stains out that we believe are too deep, too ugly, too much our nature.

He has decided we are worth His effort, His Son and His love.

"...Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool."