Forgiveness is the power to remove sin…ALL sin.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” 
Romans 3:23-24 New Living Translation

I’m not know for street photography, in fact, street photography makes me nervous. Don’t get me wrong, I love viewing pictures of great street photographers.  Even though they are not always pleasant to the eye, they depict the reality of the world in which we live.

Canon City, Colorado

So, I took an hour stroll on Main Street, Canon City, before a recent pastors conference. The city has done an amazing job of updating Main Street, yet also persevering the old character of the city.

I liked this picture until I noticed something that I didn’t want in the photo. I’m bugged by the cigarette butt in the lower left corner. You probably didn’t notice it. I didn’t either until I enlarged the pic.

There is something in our lives that ruins the picture of who God created us to be. No matter how “good” we look to others, sin has left its mark on us. Paul reminds us that “everyone has sinned.” You, me, and every human creature has fallen short of God’s standard. So, what do we do? What hope is there for us?

Photoshop has a pretty cool tool that takes care of problems like this cigarette butt called, content aware. I draw a lasso around the butt and choose content aware and magically the butt disappears looking like it never existed.

This is what God does with our sin. Through Christ he lassos our sin and eliminates it from our lives. He declares us not guilty and removes our sin. This work of God doesn’t make us perfect, but it affects the way he sees us.

The picture of your life might be filled with cigarette butts, yet God in Christ removes them all. Through faith in the One who was crucified for you, you are spectacularly clean and pure.

Picture and Text Copyright Douglas P Brauner