Advertisers spend millions to get their products advertised on television during major sporting events. But Proctor and Gamble got a freebie recently during the Daytona 500, when officials used boxes of Tide to clean up after a fiery crash. Proctor and Gamble took advantage of this with a commercial that said, “You keep inventing stains, we’ll keep inventing ways to get them out.” Tide is considered a good product by many, but there is one stain it can never remove. I refer to the stain of sin. No amount of self-effort can remove this stain, only the love of Jesus, expressed on the cross. A much loved old hymn says it well, “Calvary covers it all, my past with its sin and stain. My guilt and despair, Jesus took on him there, and Calvary covers it all.” Christ died for our sins. When we ask Him for forgiveness, He removes the stain forever.
Tag Archives: sin
August 13 – False kindness to children
A high school in Bedfordhire England has a policy of not correcting any more than three spelling errors in students’ work for fear that such an action would damage their self-image. Local MP Andrew Selous called this “a false kindness to children” – and he is surely correct. It seems we will go to any length to pretend unpleasantness doesn’t exist. We pretend we are not sick and fail to get needed medical help. We pretend that death ends all. We pretend that sin is just an error in judgment. But the pretense with the most far-reaching and most tragic results is pretending there is no God and no life after death. But truth is never changed by pretense. In the book of Galatians Paul wrote, “do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows he will also reap.” Isn’t it time you got our head out of the sand?
July 30 – Bullying an Old Woman
Four seventh grade students from Greece, New York mercilessly taunted 68 year old Karen Klein on the web, especially making fun of her weight. But they got caught – their identities leaked out on, you guessed it, the web. Sympathy for Klein was so strong, that when it became know what she had gone through, hundreds of thousands of dollars came in to support her. The four tormentors have received an onslaught of threats and abuse, and are under police protection. Surprisingly, in spite of the vicious bullying, police said Klein does not want the children to face criminal charges. There’s no question of their guilt – they were cruel and mean – but she doesn’t want them prosecuted. It reminds one of the Love of Christ. Of Him it was said, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And just as there was forgiveness for these mean young rascals, there is forgiveness for you and me.
July 18 – A Pill for Every Problem
“North Americans have become conditioned into believing that there is a prescription for every common ache or disease,” according to Dr. W. Gifford Jones. This philosophy of a pill for every problem is troubling because the root cause of the situation is often overlooked. Sadly, many take the same approach regarding spiritual needs. We try to improve our selves, go to church, get baptized or sprinkled, give to charities, all hoping to impress God. But the Bible, God’s inspired word, teaches that the root of the problem is the heart. God describes it as “deceitful and desperately wicked.” Instead of stubbornly refusing to face the truth, and admitting we need a new heart, we take spiritual pills and overlook the root problem – sin. Are you facing reality, or “just taking pills”?
Tools for HOPE 