Clean it Away

Bible Reading: Romans 6:11-14; 1 John 1:7-9

“Thanks for helping me with this,” Mom said after she and Everly had finished dusting and vacuuming the living room. “It sure looks a lot better in here now.”

Everly smiled and glanced around the newly cleaned room. The sun shone brightly through the window. “Oh no!” she said as she looked at the end table. “I missed a spot when I dusted this. It didn’t show up until the sunlight hit it.” She ran to get the dust cloth.

“You know something?” Mom said as Everly dusted the table again. “Our spiritual lives are a lot like that.”

Everly stopped dusting and looked at her mom. “What do you mean?”

“We may think we’re doing well—that we’re living a good life and everything is all right,” Mom replied. “But when the light of the Son—God’s perfect Son, Jesus—shines on us, it shows us sin in our lives that needs to be cleaned away.”

Everly grinned and waved the dust rag at her mother. “Want me to dust you too?” she asked.

Mom laughed. “No thanks. You can get rid of the dust on the table, but only Jesus can get rid of the sin in our lives.”

“That sounds a lot like the verse we learned at church this week,” Everly said. She recited it from memory. “First John 1:9—’If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.’” She looked closely at the table she had just dusted. “Jesus cleans away our sin, just like I cleaned the dust off this table!”

“That’s right!” Mom said. “He frees us from both the punishment of sin—which is death—and also from the power of sin. Because the Holy Spirit is living inside us, we don’t have to give in to the temptation to sin. We can do what’s right instead.”

Everly gave the table one last swipe. “There!” she said. “No more dust.”

“Very good!” said Mom. She smiled. “And because of Jesus, God’s Son, we’ll be able to say that about our lives too.” Ruth I. Jay

How About You?

Has something you’ve done that’s wrong been made visible to you by the Son—Jesus? When He shines His perfect light on us, it reveals sin in our lives that we need Him to get rid of. Confess your sin to Him so He can clean it away. Then live by the light of His Spirit and trust Him to help you do what’s right.

Today’s Key Verse:
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (NLT)

Today’s Key Thought:

Jesus cleans away sin