“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

The call came from the airport. An unknown student had arrived from Africa, expecting to receive pastoral training. A kind teacher went to pick him up, and found an old man with decaying teeth, rotting shoes, and a beaming smile.

Over time, we discovered he was the only pastor of a thriving congregation of a mere 4000 people. As his years were nearing their end, the people of his mud floor, thatch roof church combined their meager resources to send Pastor Augustin to seminary to receive training to prepare his successors.

We learned to love this gentle, humble, humorous man. He nearly fell from my car in laughter the first time he gave his food order to a microphone in the life-size Jack-in-the-Box at a drive-through.

The other time I remember him laughing to the point of tears was when this dear man from a tropical climate saw snow for the first time. He was standing without a jacket in the school parking lot, looking agape at the white flakes coating his shoulders.

When he saw me, he pointed skyward and shouted for joy: “Look, look. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as this snow.”

The power and comfort of the gospel come to our hearts, when we retain the wonder and the joy of such a simple, profound truth. The grace of God is greater than all our sins. Though they be as scarlet, through Christ’s pardon “they shall be white as snow.”

Prayer:
Lord, when grief and guilt for sin threaten to overwhelm my heart, renew my joy with the promise of grace: though my sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.