Anita shuddered as she looked out the window at the cold, wet and windy fall day. Drifts of soggy leaves swirled down the street, and a sudden gust of wind caught a garbage pail lid and tossed it out onto the road. She wanted to stay indoors where it was warm, but her errand could not be put off any longer.
Belting her coat tightly around her and pulling up the hood, Anita ran to the car and drove to the store. Pulling into a parking space as near to the door as possible, she got out, slammed the door and turned to run through the rain into the store.
But something was wrong. She couldn’t move more than one step away from the car before something caught her and pulled her back. The wind had whipped the back of her coat into the car door just as she closed it, and now she was stuck.
At first it didn’t seem like a very big problem. All she needed to do was to open the door and she would be free. But no matter how hard she pulled and tugged, the door would not budge. It was not locked, but the material of her coat, caught in the door latch, had jammed it so tightly shut that the door simply would not open.
Using both hands, Anita yanked as hard as she could on the door. No success. Then she pulled so hard on her coat that she heard the fabric tear, but it still would not come loose. She was trapped.
Maybe you are trapped just as firmly as Anita was and you don’t even know it. If you have never admitted that you are a sinner, then you are trapped by your sins without realizing it. Perhaps it seems to you that you really haven’t been too bad, and that you have only a few sins that you hope to get rid of by yourself. You try hard to be good and kind and helpful, hoping that God will forget about your sins.
God reminds us in His Word, the Bible, that “all our righteousnesses [good deeds] are as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6). Just as a dirty rag can never make anyone clean, so all the good things you may do can never remove one sin.
“What can I do?” Anita wondered as she stood in the pouring rain. Just then a man appeared at the door of the store, hesitated a minute and then dashed through the rain toward his car which was parked nearby. Raising her voice so she could be heard over the noise of the storm, she called, “Sir, can you please help me? I’m stuck!”
The man came right over. Looking over the problem, he decided what to do. Opening the passenger door of Anita’s car, he climbed in and pushed on the stuck door from the inside while Anita pulled from the outside. Finally after much tugging and pushing, the door popped open and Anita was free. She thanked the man very much for his help as she pulled her coat free and hurried on into the store.
Anita couldn’t free herself, and you cannot get free from your sins without help either. The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the only one who can free you from the trap of your sins. He tells us that “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).
Won’t you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour today?
ML-02/16/1986