Whiter than Snow
I live in a wood sided house that is painted a clean, crisp white. At least that's what I thought before the big snow came a few days ago. That snow was perfectly white. So white, it shimmered in the sun, blinding us with its brilliance. I went to take a picture of the house, covered beautifully in snow, thinking what a pretty Christmas card it would make. But after I looked at the pictures more closely I was down right embarrassed by what I saw! The house faces north, so there was a light coating of green algae and mildew rudely diminishing my beautiful Christmas card white house.
Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean; Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalms 51:7
That got me thinking about how us Christians who may have wandered away from thirstily following after Jesus, can be like my not so white house. If we compared ourselves to our next door neighbors that frequently bless the neighborhood with their knock-down-drag-out fights, our lives looks pretty white. Or the relatives that get drunk, frequently or do drugs, we feel pretty sparkly up next to them... even though we no longer read our Bibles on a daily basis or go to church regularly. We no longer extend forgiveness or kindness or compassion. Just like my white house that doesn't' look dirty at all up against the green lawn and brown tree trunks, when we compare our lives to the soot of this world, we may think we're doing pretty good! But when we compare our lives to the pureness of Jesus, the algae and mildew show themselves pretty quickly.
I'm still white. I've been washed by the blood of the Lamb, but oh how dingy my life looks in comparison to our Saviors brilliance. It makes me cry out in shame, "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow."
