A MISSIONARY was staying at a hotel one time, and had a lot of writing to do. When he went to lunch he left all his books open on the desk. Among them was a beautiful Bible given to him by a dear friend.
The Bible was left open at 1 John 3 where he had been reading. When he came back after lunch he was horrified to find that apparently someone had been in his room and knocked over a bottle of blue ink. The ink had spilled all over his beautiful Bible and it soaked through into the pages underneath. It was the maid who had upset the ink and when she saw it splashed all over the Bible she tried to wipe it off with a cloth, but this only made matters worse.
The missionary thought to himself, “If I were in China, I would expect such things to happen.” Then he remembered the verse about tang “joyfully the spoiling of your goods” (Heb. 10:3434For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. (Hebrews 10:34)), and this he sought grace to do.
When the maid came in, she told him how sorry she was that she had spilled the ink and that she would pay for the damage. However, that would not take out the ink. He thought he would not report the matter to the hotel manager for the poor girl would lose her job. The next morning the missionary went with a friend to see a printer, and asked him if he had anything to get rid of ink stains. The printer told him to get a bottle of ink eradicator and see if that would help. But the pages were so badly stained that the missionary did not entertain much hope. Hover, he bought the ink eradicator and immediately set to work.
As he applied the ink eradicator he watched the stains disappear little by little as if by magic. It took a long time and a lot of patience, but finally every trace of ink was gone. It seemed like a miracle, and how hay he was! He called the maid in to tell her. The poor girl thought she was going to be punished, but when she saw how the ink was all gone she clapped her hands and nearly cried for joy.
Ink eradicator was a wonderful discovery, and we have many things that will take out stains. But there is only one thing that can remove the scarlet stain of sin — that is the precious blood of Christ. Every child of Adam is stained with sin, “for all have sinned,” yet God can say, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18).
Only God can blot out our sins, but this He can do, since Jesus, His dear Son, has died and shed His precious blood. We must apply the remedy to our sin-stained hearts, and this each one can do by coming in faith to God and asking Him to cleanse us from our sins.
In Isaiah 44:2222I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. (Isaiah 44:22) we read, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” Again we read: “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isa. 43:2525I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. (Isaiah 43:25).
ML-06/14/1970