THE CHILDREN'S CLEANSING

Young people may not be conscious of the deep stain of sin. I did, however, hear of a girl of about ten years of age who felt that God could not allow one sin in heaven because one sin kept Adam out of Eden. How wonderful it is that the very God against whom each one of us has sinned has Himself provided the means of cleansing. This is the shed blood of Jesus and the water which came from His side after the crucifixion.

There was once a product advertised that would remove all stains from cloth – 'sure to do it, never known to fail'. Be that as it may have been. God caused the prophet Jeremiah to cry to the people that if they used the best soap of the day, made with nitre and potash, their sin would still be "marked before me". Another prophet said that a fountain would be opened for sin and uncleanness and we may be sure that this would be effective with everyone who would come to the fountain. We often sing of Jesus that 'Thousands have fled to His spear-pierced side'. Some have tried the fountain of self-improvement, and with praiseworthy desires, but the stain on the conscience would still remain. This is illustrated by a little incident.

Staying one day at a wayside hostel down one of the valleys of southern Europe, a traveller noticed that the floor was dreadfully dirty. He had in mind to advise the landlady to scrub it; but when he realised that it was a mud floor, he reflected that the more she scrubbed it the worse it would become. A new floor was needed! So it 'is with the conscience. But the God by the light of whose word we behold our own need of purging, uses that same word to begin in the needy one a nature that will gladly bow to the Lord Jesus and have the benefit of His work of cleansing. What a majestic word of Scripture it is that Jesus "having made by himself the purification of sins, set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high". Have you heard Him say to you "I will, be thou cleansed"?

J.C.Evershed