Zebras Cannot Become Stripeless On Their Own

Regrettably, it has been a long time since I’ve updated the blog, but working 40 hours a week and spending the other times sleeping, at church activities, or talking to my wonderful girlfriend, it doesn’t leave a lot of time to write. Nevertheless, I’m here yet again to deliver another dose of entertainment and rants against Modern American Culture. Let’s roll.

Pretzel Gourmet and Cleaning with Blood

I figured I’d start with a Pretzel Gourmet update (wow. I am horrible at catchy introductions). Since I’ve been back, the store has made slow but steady improvements to make the place look less shady. The new girl, Jessica, and I have been working hard during the slow times to clean some of the more noticeably slapdash areas. I’ll admit, the place still looks like some shoddy ethnic restaurant that has changed leadership four times, but I still finding myself loving the place. I have worked there for nearly four years now, so there will always be a little special place in my heart for the PG. But seriously, it needs a facelift.

When you clean the Pretzel Gourmet (and when you’re not reacting to the caustic chemicals invading your nostrils), you tend to think about things. God has used this summer at the PG for me to concentrate less about fitting into a new job and instead for me to focus more on loving Him and others. Something I’ve been thinking about has to do with cleaning. As I’ve been cleaning the store, I’ve wiped away a lot of gunk that has probably been festering for months or even years. And it hasn’t been easy either; oftentimes it will take me several nights of hard scrubbing using a range of chemical cleansers to tidy up just one section of the store. But I know that no matter how hard I scrub, the store will never be totally clean or like new.

That exact thing is true of our sinful nature. We, by ourselves, can never wipe away our sins. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and David lamented that “surely I was sinful from birth.” We are all sinners, filthy rags worthy for nothing more than being thrown away. Like the cleaning rags I can use at the Pretzel Gourmet, which I try to clean with bleach and Goo-Gone and intense washing techniques, they still are not as good as they were when they were new. We can try to hide our sins by trying to ignore them, by calling them by different names (most popular being “sins do not exist”), or by focusing our attention on other “noble” goals, but they do not even come close to wiping out our stains that penetrate us so deeply. The most wonderful fact in the entire world is that though we are but filthy rags, there is a way for us to be spotless – it is a washing not with soap and water, but with blood.

It is a story that has been told so many times and yet too few times. Secular society knows it as the Myth of the Jesus and the Cross but Christians know it as the Good News. What I think makes it so hard to believe is that there is nothing in the physical world to which we can compare such a wonderful feat. Nowhere in the history of the world has there been a zebra who, feeling condemned by his stripes, consulted something higher than himself for relief from his birthmarks. Nor has an old automobile with 250,000 miles of wear ever been transformed into a car with no signs of use.

That is, unless it is made new. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) And again, Jesus said, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7) That is the only way that the zebra weary of his stripes could ever become stripeless or the run-down car run like the first time its engine roared. It is the also the only way we, too, can be without sin. Only through the blood of Jesus are we washed whiter than snow.

It is not the point of my argument to explain exactly what being washed by the blood of Jesus means, but know that there was something outer-worldly in the person of Jesus that made is life, death, and subsequent resurrection and ascension so important in the history of mankind. What I mean to focus on is just how perfect this cleansing from sin is because it is truly the only cleansing of its kind. How perfect is it? The Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 130:12) Try doing that on your own! It is this phenomenal cleansing that Christians call forgiveness and it is absolutely perfect. God remembers your sins no more and when you tell God that you know you are in the wrong, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.” (1 John 1:9) The Bible is true, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”! (Romans 8:1) There is no shame, no guilt, no fear; his forgiveness is total and complete.

The hymn says it best:

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.^[1]

This is but one part of the Good News and much (much) more could be said about it, but I think God for helping me begin to see just how perfect God’s forgiveness truly is. I hope you were blessed too and if you have any questions, I would love to talk to you about it.

Within the next few days, I should have completed an entry on school vouchers. Stay tuned!

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^[1]Logos Hymnal. 1995 (1st edition.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor, WA