Washing Away Sins

Vacation is a special time for our family, especially when a beach is involved. I'm a morning person and get very excited to get up early for some "God and me" time on the beach. This year's vacation was no different and the breathtaking beauty of the beaches of Aruba makes for memorable mornings for me.

One of my annual practices at a beach is to stand on the surf's edge and scribble some things in the sand that I think are holding me back in my relationship with Christ. This is a practice that I began in 1988 with a group of youth I took on a spiritual retreat to Myrtle Beach, SC. These writings in the sand may be areas that need to be surrendered but more often involve confession of sins and shortcomings for which I long for the cleansing of Christ. The idea was to confess things to Christ and then step back and watch as the waves washed them away, symbolizing of course, the fresh start that confession and repentance offer.

This year as I made my list in the sand an interesting thing happened. I could hardly get anything written before the gently rolling waves washed them away. I actually found myself getting a little frustrated because I couldn't seem to move far enough away from the water's edge to write in the sand. It was then that I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me. "Tim, when you are living close enough to the flow of the Spirit, forgiveness and restoration happen very quickly."

I stood in awe and wonder for a moment as I thought about how many times I have not experienced the cleansing power of Christ simply because I refuse to recognize the flow of the Holy Spirit all around me. 1 John 1:9 promises me that if I simply confess, HE is the one who does the washing away. Too often, I think that I have to DO a certain number of things before he will genuinely forgive me.