March 9: Like Snow

Read Isaiah 1:12-20; Mark 1:40-42

When you live where it’s cold, you have a lot of words for snow. There’s snow, and then there’s snow!

Which culture has the most words to describe snow?

• Swedish= 25
• Icelandic= 46
• Alaskan Inuit= 70
• Saami (Northern Scandinavia & Russia)= 175
• Scots= 421!

Here in North Dakota, we are patiently waiting for our snow to melt! When it first fell, I could tell because our room was suddenly bright even in the middle of the night.

Snow relfects light. Ice crystals have air gaps between them that create the complex crystal shapes. Light beams bounce from one crystal to another, making the light appear white.

Last week, we examined all the verbs of sin, taking a deep, hard look at the reality of the damage. Sin separates us from God and is terminal.

The Lord Jesus offers an invitation to sinners: “Come, let us reason together! Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as the snow…”

When we have to butcher an animal in the winter, we know that the snow will never come clean again. We turn the bloody spots over with a shovel. Likewise, there is nothing that can cleanse us from sin- except the Lord Jesus.

Be reasonable! He calls. He is the only One who can make scarlet the brilliant white of the snow. He is the only One who can forgive sin, removing the separation and reversing death.

Not only is Jesus the only One who can, He also is the only one who will! Just as He willed the leper’s disease to go away, He also wills our sin to be paid for and removed. He is good.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Only One who can forgive your sin?

Do you believe He wants to forgive you?

Soak in these truths today.

Extra Reading: 1 Timothy 2:3-6