The Promise of the Redeemer
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
During my time at Furman University I had the opportunity to be a YoungLife leader. For those who do not know much about YoungLife, it is a ministry to reach kids. One of the most fun events of YoungLife is “All-City Club” which brings all the high schools in the area together. This is like any other club, filled with games, songs, and laughter, but it is on a much bigger scale with so many kids and leaders.
One All-City Club has stuck in my memory throughout the years because the talk during this club was about sin. Now talking about sin can be difficult, because really we never want to acknowledge our weakness or brokenness, but Jesus never shied away from talking about sin and His purpose. More specifically this talk was about Jesus washing us clean of our sin.
When the leader giving the talk got in front of the crowd there were three pitchers of liquid sitting on a table; two were clear and one was red. The red one was labeled “Sin,” one clear one was labeled “You,” and the other labeled “Jesus.” The leader started by pouring a little bit of the red liquid into the pitcher labeled You, and the pitcher started to turn red. The more red liquid that was poured in, the darker the liquid in the You pitcher got. Then they took the pitcher labeled Jesus and started to pour it into the pitcher labeled You, and the liquid began to turn back to clear. Yes! The color of the liquid that was a deep red was changed back to clear.
This is an incredible illustration of what God has done for us through Jesus. As this verse in 1 John says, it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us of our sin. By emptying Himself out for us, Jesus cleans us, saving us from our sin.
Only God can save us with our divided hearts that have been turned red with sin, yet are cleaned by Jesus. It is this pouring out of love that then allows us to walk in the light.