Jesus Christ wipes away the mess we make of our lives.

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

“…and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”  
Luke 11:4 English Standard Version

Over the next few days I will be using pictures that my grandson, Eli, has taken. I often ask Eli if he wants to take pictures with my camera. Most of the time his answer is “yes.” So I put the camera into program mode, place it around his neck, and set him loose. He doesn’t know what the aperture, shutter and ISO are, but he knows how to push the shutter button.

I love to look at the pictures he has taken when he hands the camera to me. I don’t assume to know what he was thinking when he took these pictures, yet in these blogs I will share with you what these pictures mean to me.

How wonderful it is to know and believe that Jesus forgives our sins.

What better place to start than this picture of a small chalkboard surrounded by the words, “Jesus forgives our sin.” Besides these words I also noticed how close the chalk is to the chalkboard. Eli has captured a picture of forgiveness.

Whereas we have a way of messing up life, God excels at wiping our lives clean. Our attempts to fix our disasters don’t work.

I’ve created many disasters. As some of you know, my father was an artist. He loved to paint and draw. He didn’t need a ruler to draw a straight line. I’ve never drawn a straight line. I didn’t inherit my father’s ability to draw. What I did inherit is the ability to make a mess out of my life. In the church we call that sin.

God has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He has cleaned up our messes. He has wiped us clean by drowning our sin in the waters of baptism. Yes, “Jesus forgives our sin.”

And through this gift of forgiveness we are granted the power to forgive those who mess up our lives. I’m not saying that it’s easy to forgive, or that forgiveness happens instantaneously. We aren’t God. But through Christ and his mercy for each one of us we are granted the ability to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

Text Copyright Douglas P Brauner
Picture Copyright Eli Brauner