A Blanket of Grace

​Don’t you love the reminders God gives us through nature?
 
This morning, as I sat looking out the window at the beautiful, freshly fallen snow, my three-year-old hopped up on my lap to cuddle. 

“Matthew, do you see the snow?  Who made that snow?” 

“Jesus.”
                 
"Yeah, God made that snow.  Isn’t it pretty?  Do you know that the Bible says that God washes our hearts to make them white like snow?”
 
Now, since I live in Ohio, I know what lies under the snow.  Mud.  Every time the weather starts to warm up a bit, the snow turns to rain, and everything turns to mud.  The snow never took away the mud--it only hid it for awhile.  The mud has always been there.  When the weather warms up, the mud shows itself once again.  It shows itself on my shoes, on my kids, on my dog.  Mud . . . everywhere!  This is winter in Ohio! 
 
But God’s grace is not like winters in Ohio!   Although I know how sinful and dirty my own heart is, God’s Word says, “'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.'” Isaiah 1:18
 
God does not just cover up the sin in my heart to be revealed at a later time.  Through the death of Jesus, God is able to actually remove my sin from me when I place my faith in Him.  When I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin, and rose again to new life, God removes my sin from me--forever.  Scripture says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us,”  Psalm 103:12.   Wow.  Think about that for a minute.  That is grace--pure, freshly-fallen grace. 
 
And if that was not enough, be encouraged, also, to know that God’s grace is not like the temperamental Ohio weather!   While it saddens me to know that my forgiven heart still sins in this earthly life, I humbly praise God that, because of what Jesus did, He still counts me as worthy in His sight.  He never takes away His forgiveness from me.  He never removes His grace.  My heart, washed by the blood of His Son, is now permanently white as snow.  What a reason to rejoice today!  


Danielle Chaney is married to Nathan, and they have three sons.  She grew up at The Chapel, and after graduating from Cedarville University, she interned with Campus Focus.  Danielle taught Bible and PE at a Christian school, then she and her husband worked at a Christian camp.  With a God-given heart for least-reached people, Danielle and Nathan are appointees of Christar, preparing to serve as church planters in Albania.  
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