If Your Sins Were Written On An Etch-A-Sketch by Wendy van Eyck

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:2 (NLT)

I was playing with my baby cousins Etch-A-Sketch the other day. I was drawing funny faces and then wiping them away. Amazed at how with just one swipe all the dirt disappears.

Gone.

There is no trace of it. Just whiteness. There is only the opportunity to start again as if for the first time. You are literally given a clean slate.

I don’t know when the last time you played with an Etch-a-sketch was, but one remarkable thing about it is that once you’ve wiped it clean there is nothing you can do to get the picture you’ve just cleared back.

And you can do this as many times as you need to.

Mess up a picture. Wipe it clean.

Want to start again. Wipe it clean.

This ordinary toy got me thinking about sin.

It got me thinking about how when God says he’s removed our sins from us this is what he means.

Once our sins were there, blotted all over our lives, and then Jesus came and with one swipe cleaned the slate.

Imagine all your sins, all the bad things in your life were written on an Etch-A-Sketch then imagine it was wiped clean.

They’re gone.

Gone. Just like God says your sins are.

You can never get them back, or think about them, they are gone. And you are free.

You have a clean slate. And the opportunity to start over.

Do you want a clean slate? Ask God to forgive you for whatever is troubling your heart. Then believe he’s taken it as far as the East is from West.

Wendy van Eyck blogs about everyday things at ilovedevotionals.com. You can also find her on Facebook & twitter.