Don’t know whether you like
snow but we’re in the midst of a cold period and the snow has been falling
heavily. For the children, snow has a degree of “fun” about it – making snow
figures, having snow ball fights, or sledging down the nearest slope. It also
means that school might be closed, and there’s the opportunity of an extra day
off. For some adults it is a reminder of a far off childhood. For others it
contributes to a dreadful journey, and the added dangers of ice and slippery
surfaces.
The worst snow showers we might
experience do not really compare with what some people experience every year.
Snow falls in large quantities, to the extent that the fall of snow causes what
is called a “white out”. Such an event is quite rare in this country.
This made me think of a verse
from the Bible. God was speaking to the His people through the prophet Isaiah.
He said, ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’. That was quite an
invitation. God was willing to forgive the sins of His people. God was willing
to cleanse – to change what was scarlet into something as white as snow.
God is still inviting people
to come to Him today. We have to come to see things as God sees them – to see
that we are sinners in his sight. We can try and paint a picture of
respectability about our life. We can try and excuse or explain why the things
we have done wrong are not quite as bad as people ought to think. We can even
live in denial, saying that we are not sinners and have never done anything wrong.
Are we prepared to see things in our life as the scarlet stain of sin?
If we accept God’s invitation,
and confess that we are sinners, then our sin can be washed away – our life
made white like snow. We don’t have to do anything. All we have to do is accept
the work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He died upon the cross outside of
Jerusalem that He might bear the guilt and punishment of God upon our sin. If
we accept His sacrifice, and believe in Him as our Saviour, then perhaps we can
look at snow in a completely different way. Snow, and the sheer whiteness of
snow, if how our life will look before God. What a transformation is possible!
