as a child, you never understood just how dirty your face was after eating ice cream. you tried your best to get it all in your mouth because, really, who wants to waste ice cream? but you still wound up with some on your nose, your chin and your cheeks.

it wasn’t a surprise that you had some on your face, you could feel the cold sticky build up taking place while you ate…but the quantity of ice cream that stuck was a complete mystery. why? because you can’t see your own face without a mirror. simple as that. you weren’t looking to get messy, you just did because that was the hazard of eating ice cream as a child.

and that’s our sin. we aren’t trying to get messy, but no matter how hard we try, we still wind up getting more dirty and stained than we would ever guess. there are drops of this and that here and there.we are sloppy, gummy messes. we are dirty and stained.

thankfully, God is a wonderful parent! He has prepared ahead of time for our messes. He wipes us clean as soon as we ask for help, and He shows us how to conduct ourselves in the future so we don’t keep getting dirty all the time. thanks be to God the Father, Christ the Son and the Spirit for their work in cleaning us up!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

it’s always easier to see the mess on other people’s faces, obviously, so we must be careful to be aware of the state of our own messes when confronting others with their neapolitan facial decorations. the best and simplest way to be mindful of the state of our own affairs is to constantly look to the Scriptures. when david said he found joy in meditating on God’s Law day and night, he wasn’t just being a bookworm (or scroll worm) he understood the value of being constantly in God’s Word, and what that would do to your life, and your daily actions and choices. holding up our lives to the light of the Scriptures will always help us to better understand just what it is we’re dealing with, what our own motivations may be (good intentions or not), and what the next step should be in dealing with whatever life throws our way.

we should never be afraid of looking at the mess we’ve made, because we cannot deal with it until we do. it does no good to deny that it’s there, and only prolongs the wait for the cleansing work of God in our lives…