Raining again! It had rained all week long and here it was, Friday night, and still raining! Our backyard was mud soup, and in its center stood a large doghouse, like an island in a swamp.
It was home to a large St. Bernard dog named Heidi. She looked drearily out of her doghouse door, and her sorrowful brown eyes seemed to say, “It’s lonely out here in the rain.” We waved to her from the window, hoping that tomorrow would bring dry weather, and then we could take her on a nice long walk.
Meanwhile, there was activity going on inside our house. Tonight was hobby and Bible story class, an opportunity to share the wonderful news of God’s love with the neighbor children. Boys and girls were starting to knock at the door, eager to start. We were still finishing supper, so we invited them in and let them wait in the front room.
Again, a knock on the door: “Hello, Sarah, Allison and Jamie.” We welcomed them in to wait with the others.
Suddenly, the door flew open, and to our great surprise and dismay, our lonely St. Bernard came galloping into the front room to join the crowd. Her shaggy coat was very wet, and where her fur usually had white markings, she was quite brown with mud. Before we could stop her, she shook herself to a chorus of shrieks and giggles. Brown speckles now decorated the white walls; muddy pawprints spotted the beige carpet, and even some of the children now wore brown polka dots. You can well imagine that, as Mom and Dad of the family, we were not very happy with our unexpected visitor.
Later that night, the children learned about a wonderful place called heaven. It is a place so pure and bright that nothing on earth can compare to it. It is a happy home where there are never tears of sadness of any kind. There is nothing that can hurt or make anyone feel dirty there. We would all like to go there someday, wouldn’t we? However, we have a problem.
You and I need to be clean on the inside to live in heaven. The Bible says in Revelation 21:27 that there shall by no means enter into heaven anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie. That is bad news, since none of us are clean on the inside; no, not even one person! We have all done what the Bible calls sin, so none of us are good enough to go to that bright, clean place where Jesus lives. Because she was wet and muddy, Heidi wasn’t fit to be in our house, although we all love her, and because of our sins, we are unfit for the purity of heaven.
So here’s the good news! Jesus Christ loves you and came down from heaven to die for you. He took the punishment and shed His own blood to wash away the sins of any person who will come to Him for that cleansing. Let Him wash away your sins and make you clean on the inside, fit for heaven.
You can pray as King David did: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kind-ness . . . blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from [my] iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:1-2). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
ML-11/19/2000