"The Morning Snow"

I sat at my kitchen table this morning, looking outside watching the snow as it fell. I am not a winter person. I don't like coats and the cold! However, for some reason I really enjoy the anticipation of the first snow fall. The beauty of it amazes me. As I watched this morning, the purity of it caught my attention. It is completely undefiled! My mind shifted to David in Psa. 51 when he appealed to God for forgiveness, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." To be cleansed by God and be whiter than snow is an awesome thought that my mind has difficulty comprehending. As I sat there, my mind focused on the Scriptures. "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool." (Isa. 1:18)

"Whiter than snow" shifted my mind to Jesus. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (II Cor. 5:21) For us to stand before God, pure and undefiled, He became our sin. He took our stains, our dirty, vile and filthy lives, and laid it all on Himself. The blood scrubbed and washed every ouch of defilement from our lives. Jesus paid it all! God is holy, pure and undefiled and He took His pure, holy, undefiled Son and offered Him to make us "whiter than snow" before Him

I continued looking at the snow and my thoughts centered around the covenant we remember every first day of the week. An agreement, a binding contract and will taken on by God that He will never break. When we entered Jesus through baptism, He became our righteousness before God. And the covenant spoke: "For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more." (Heb. 8:12) "Merciful!" That is what God's covenant speaks to us. "I remember their sins no more!" I remember my sins but knowing God's covenant with me says He doesn't, it cause tears and great joy. I did nothing to earn my standing before God. We stand in His covenant and I remember it every first day of the week.

As I went outside, I picked up a handful of snow. I stared at it for a brief moment. I could eat it because it was pure and undefiled. No one had touched it to defile it. That's exactly how God views me! That is a gift beyond my thought process. My mind reflected on the thought of a free gift from God. I realized there is nothing really free! There is always a cost to someone. The free gift of God was at the cost of His Son. His love was offered as a free gift from Him to me. That's a love I cannot understand.

As I looked at the snow, my mind shifted to others around me. I realized no one has to lose their soul! It's not the choice of God. He gave the ultimate, free gift. People don't have to destroy one another with hate and sin. It's not God's choice. As I settled in my vehicle, it all became clear: if someone ends up burning in the flames of hell, having the eternal worm gnawing at them forever, that will not be God's choice, that will be our choice because we have rejected the cleansing and relationship. We reject His offer of the covenant. As I drove down the road and prayed for a moment, thankfully I am saved.