Brian Smith: February 26

Week 2 - Psalm 51

Thursday, February 26, 2015

A Reflection on Forgiveness from Brian Smith

Psalm 51: 7 -- "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

Growing up on a farm, I distinctly remember getting dirty… very dirty sometimes. Getting dirty was as normal as eating breakfast. As a child, you don't think about it or worry about it. Because you know you can simply clean up afterwards. But then there was this one time when I stumbled waist-deep into a manure pit… about as dirty as you could ever imagine. I think the clothes were unsalvageable -- throw those away. I showered two or three times. But the stench -- the dirty feeling -- would not come off. I felt stained.

Sometimes the things we do can seem so easy to clean up after and make right. Little white lies… promise not to say them again. Small criticisms… look at things from the other person's perspective. Walk past someone in need… I'll give more next time. But sometimes that dirty feeling still does not go away. Sin can make our souls feel stained, too. To get truly clean, to be washed whiter than snow, that is something we as humans are unable to accomplish on our own. We need God's forgiveness of those sins. Only through the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross -- as dirty as it can get -- can we truly get clean. As the hymn proclaims:

Jesus paid it all,
 All to Him I owe;
 Sin had left a crimson stain,
 He washed it white as snow.

Wash my sins from me, O Lord. Let me be white as snow once again. Let my soul seek and serve you, during Lent and always. Amen.