Skip to main content

Swept Away!

We like a good love story where the couple is swept up in love.

We don’t like a tragic story where someone is swept out to sea.

We like a story of enlightenment where ignorance is swept away by knowledge.

We don’t like a story of deception where truth is swept apart by lies.

We like a heroic battle where good prevails and evil is swept up in defeat.

We don’t like a story of injustice where wrongdoings are swept under the rug.

We like a rags to riches story where poverty is swept away by prosperity.

We don’t like a story of despair where hope is swept aside by loss.

How would you like a story where loss could be swept away by redemption?

Here’s the deal.  We’ve all brought loss upon ourselves because of the wrongs we’ve committed.  These wrongs are called offenses and they hang over us like a thick cloud.  Yet in the midst of that thick cloud, redemption is possible!  How?

Here’s how:  “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”  (Isa 44:22)

If we try to sweep our offenses away, there’s absolutely nothing we can do to cause it to happen.  But there is one who can!  The verse above was spoken by God.  He alone can sweep away our offenses.  He does so by sweeping them on to the Savior.  And, as a cloud is swept away and is no more, so it is with our offenses.  Once swept away, they are no more.

And when that happens, loss is swept away in redemption!

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...

Beyond Understanding - It's a Wonderful Thing!

In my last post, I wrote that that God keeps certain things hidden (Deut 29:29).  In some cases, these hidden things are beyond our understanding.  In response to that, one Psalmist wrote that he did not occupy himself with things too great and too wonderful for him (Ps 131:1).  That’s a healthy response as we, as humans, are finite and cannot completely know everything about an infinite God. A quote attributed to American novelists, Philip Roth, speaks volumes on this:  “All that we don’t know is astonishing.  Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.” From a more spiritual perspective, one commentator put it this way:  "What God has thought proper to reveal, he has revealed what is essential to the well-being of man, and this revelation is intended not for the present time merely, nor for one people, but for all succeeding generations. The things which he has not revealed concern not man but God alone, and are therefore not to be inquired af...

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bu...