The Amazing Cleanser

Read: 1 John 1:5-9

Holding his dirty, greasy hands high in front of him, Dad pushed the kitchen door open with his elbow. “Please turn on the faucet for me, Charlie,” he said. “I don’t want to touch anything.”

“Wow!” said Charlie, quickly turning on the water. “How did you get your hands so dirty?”

“I’ve been working on the car,” replied Dad.

Charlie shook his head. “You’ll never get those hands clean.”

“Sure I will,” said Dad. “But not with regular soap. There’s some special hand cleaner under the sink. It’s made for removing grease and oil.”

Charlie reached under the sink and pulled out the container of hand cleaner. Dad sank his fingers into the goo and rubbed it over his hands. He worked it in well, scrubbing between his fingers and around the nails with a soft brush. When he was finished, he rinsed his hands under the warm water. “What do you think?” he asked, holding up his hands for Charlie to inspect.

“That’s amazing!” said Charlie. “You had the dirtiest hands I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe you got them so clean!” Dad grinned as he dried his hands.

That evening Dad and Charlie watched a news report about a prisoner who said he had turned his life over to Christ and was now totally changed. Charlie turned to Dad. “Did you hear all the awful things that guy did?” he asked. “He can’t just say he’s sorry and be forgiven after doing all those horrible things, can he?”

“If he’s trusted Jesus as his Savior, God has forgiven him,” Dad replied. “Jesus shed His blood on the cross for our sins, and that blood is powerful enough to cleanse even the most sinful of souls.”

“So if a person trusts Jesus to save them from sin, God will forgive them no matter what they’ve done?” asked Charlie.

Dad nodded and held up his hands. “The blood of Jesus is far more powerful than the cleanser I used on my dirty, greasy hands,” he said. “Jesus’s blood truly is an amazing cleanser!”

–Judith A. Philip

How about you? Has your sin been washed away by Jesus’s blood? Maybe you’ve done some really terrible things and don’t think you could ever be forgiven. It doesn’t matter how big or small your sins seem to you or other people. All sin is terrible in God’s sight, but Jesus’s blood is powerful enough to wash it all away! Confess your sin and trust in Him, and He will forgive you. (To learn more, go to Have You Heard the Good News?)

Today’s key verse: The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 (NKJV)

Today’s key thought: The blood of Jesus washes sin away