Meant for More

I John 1:7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.


I was in a hurry. I went to wake my daughters from their late nap to get ready to head to church. As I walked the hall to their room, an overwhelming smell hit my nose and I immediately knew what happened. I opened the door to find my younger daughter asleep, covered head to toe in her own poop. It was everywhere. It had dried on the sheets and the bed, even on the wall. I immediately picked my daughter up and rushed her to the bath. As I was gently scrubbing her precious little porcelain skin, God clearly spoke to my heart.

He showed me that what I saw before me was a picture of what He sees when He looks at us. When I found my daughter in that bedroom, covered in feces, my love for her didn't run the other way. I ran to her. I longed to cleanse her from the muck of something she wasn't meant to cover herself in. The smell of that stuff covering her was putrid to me, just as sin is to God, but it wasn't enough to stop me from scooping her up and taking her to where she could be clean. In the same way, when I was covered in the stench of sin and shame, Jesus still reached out to me. He came and died in my place so I could be clean. As I bathed my daughter and she began to cry from discomfort, my heart broke. I had to scrub a bit to get the caked on residue to give. I had to dig under her fingernails to remove the matter that had lodged itself there during the course of her adventure. And though the process was painful, it was for her good - to make her clean. When I have wallowed in sin and allowed God to work His cleansing process on me, it has at times been painful. Sometimes it's uncomfortable when He uproots unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors. But it's always for my good, to make me clean.

I learned a lot that day with my daughter, but what I treasure most is the glimpse it gave me to the Father's love. You see, when my daughter was covered head to toe in poop, she was still my daughter. My love for her did not change at all -not one single bit - by the fact she was wrapped in something so awful. She was mine. And I knew I had the ability and the resources to help her get clean. I had the knowledge and understanding to teach her that she wasn't made for playing in poop, just as God teaches me that I wasn't meant to play in sin. I was heartbroken that my daughter chose to play in poop when her Dad and I and her Grandparents had provided so many more wonderful things to play with. I wanted her to see all of the great things she had available to her, instead of playing in the stench. And I think that's God's heart for us too. We weren't meant for sin. We were meant to live today and for eternity enjoying all of the precious gifts and promises that the precious blood of Christ bought us at the cross.

I don't know where you're at this morning. I don't know what sins, addictions, struggles or worries have you marred. But I do know this. There is no sin too great or too small that Christ cannot forgive, no tragedy He cannot redeem. He is a precious, loving Father who will cleanse you. Trust His arms. Trust His process. Trust His heart. When you're His, you're His forever.



Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.