Reason for the Season

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Is. 1:18b). As I look at my window in southeastern Pennsylvania, snow covers the ground and its blanket grows thicker by the hour. The landscape bears its white trim. That's the coloration our God wants us to have when it comes to His transforming work of grace through Christ in respect to our sin. He colors sin scarlet. Have you ever gotten red magic marker on your hands and tried to wash it off? It is no easy task. Eventually, it does disappear. God, however, describes us as caught red-handed in our sin. Neither our scrubbing of self-reformation nor the whitewash of cover up nor the exfoliation of time will help. God Himself cleanses us from that sin, both of hand and heart, through the crimson flow of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. By grace, through faith in Him, God looks upon us and sees His handiwork of grace in making us whiter than snow. That's what He bids us to ponder in our heart as the reason for the season: "Come, now, let us reason together, says the LORD..." (Isaiah 1:18a). Such reason will take us to Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners.