Anita shuddered as she looked out the window at the cold, wet and windy spring day. A sudden gust of wind caught a garbage can lid and blew it out onto the street. She wanted to stay indoors out of the wind and wet, but her errand could not be put off any longer.
Pulling her coat tightly around her and flipping up the hood, Anita ran to the car and drove to the store. She pulled into a parking space as near to the front door as possible, got out, slammed the door and turned to run through the rain into the store.
But something was wrong. She couldn't take more than one step away from the car before something held 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 open. It was not locked, but the fabric of her coat had caught in the door latch and 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 still it 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. Now it may seem to you that you really haven't been too bad and that you do have a few sins, just like everybody else. You’ve been trying hard to be good and kind and helpful, hoping that God will forget about your sins when He sees what a kind person you’ve been.
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. You see, you are trapped in your sins, just as Anita was trapped by the car door.
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 pouring rain, she called, “Sir, can you please help me? I'm stuck!”
The man came right over. Looking over the problem, he figured out 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. The Bible tells us, “The blood of Jesus Christ [God's] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:7)).
Won't you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour today and be free of your sins forever?
ML-07/13/2008