The Gospel

My family and I once had a Labrador retriever named Ellie. Headstrong and determined, she obeyed us only when it served her own interests. But we loved her anyway.

One morning, I let her outside to do her business, and she found a patch of yuck. Despite my warnings from the door, she proceeded to roll her back in every disgusting inch of that patch. Ellie was delighted with this find and blissfully ignored me. When she finished and return to the house, I couldn’t let her in. She was filthy and stinky, so a bath was in order.

When I turned on the hose, she ducked her head in repentance and let me wash her. Over her 13-year life span, I bathed Ellie many times, often under similar circumstances, but I remember this very ordinary day and very ordinary task because I realized how Ellie was offering me a picture of the Gospel.

Ellie was a lot like me in her rebellion; the Bible calls us “stiff necked.”  When I sin, I do what I want and can have fun in that mess — for a minute. But then I’m stinky in my shame and filthy in my disobedience. I can’t enter the presence of my very holy Heavenly Father and all He has prepared for me when I’m in that condition.

But Jesus makes a way. Through the most beautiful mystery, somehow the blood He shed on the cross washes over me and cleanses me of my sins. Just like Ellie, I can’t do that for myself. It doesn’t matter how many good deeds I do or religious activities I perform, I can’t wash away my pride, my rebellion or my disobedience. But Jesus can — if I let Him. And that is the good news; that is what is known as the Gospel.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” — Romans 3:23-26

Just as I loved Ellie and wanted her to dwell inside our home, God loves you and me and wants us to dwell with Him in eternity — and we can when we put our faith in Jesus. So, friend, what do you believe? Are you rolling around in patches of ick? Are you working to try and get that filth off your back by yourself? Or have you let Jesus wash it all away? 

Let’s pray.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving us and washing away our sins. No matter how many times we roll in decaying patches of sin, your grace washes over us. Seer the Gospel into our hearts and our consciousness so that we see it everywhere and are reminded of this truth day after day, and increase our faith in you as our Savior and Redeemer. We love you. Amen.