We were gathered around the table at MOT, eating our breakfast and waiting for worship to begin. My new friend began to peel her orange, let out a little squeak of surprise, and set it back down. The outside of the orange was beautiful, but the inside was black and rotted.

My mind immediately began to ponder a blog post about the hidden blackness. I was just about to reach for the orange when her husband got up to throw it away. 

I called him back. "Wait. I can use that orange." 

There were looks of surprise (because we were just getting acquainted, and they didn't know me well yet) but he returned it to the table and I snapped a picture.

The orange, I thought, was so much like us. Beautiful and healthy on the outside. Black and rotten on the inside.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 esv

The NIV translates this as "beyond cure". 

No matter how much we clean up our lives, no matter how beautiful we seem on the outside, our hearts are much like the rotten orange, desperately vile and sinful. We are plagued by both the original sin of mankind as well as our own individual sinfulness. 

Left to our own devices, there is no hope. We can never make ourselves clean. We can never make ourselves whole and healthy.

But God.

God created the hearts we have corrupted with our sin, and He still sees them. He still searches the hearts of men. He still knows.

"I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind..." Jeremiah 17:10 nasb

On our own, we can never be clean, but in the hands of Almighty God, there is hope.

"Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for Thou art My praise." Jeremiah 17:14 nasb

No matter how dark the stain of sin, the blood of Jesus can wash us white as snow. 

He, alone, can cleanse all the sin, all the wickedness, all the hurt and pain from our hearts. What sin has destroyed, He restores. 

Ashes are turned to beauty. 

Sorrow turned to joy. 

Despair turned to hope.

Today, let's ask God to search our hearts and minds, every nook and cranny, and invite Him to cleanse what needs to be cleansed, heal what needs to be healed. 

Let's allow Him to make us new and fill us with joy, hope, and the beauty of Christ Himself. 

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In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: The Dead Chicken Lesson

Here's the link to the worldwide prayer guide: The Prayer List 

#sin #bloodofJesus #disciple