Dirty Hands

As the First Elder of South Brooklyn, I maintain regular office hours. This time is set aside as a ministerial service on Friday nights from 7:00PM to 8:30PM for consultations, prayer, and encouragement for the church members and general community.

While I prefer to be on time for my appointments, I understand that distractions do come about (Murphy's Law, anyone?), so I expect to see distractions. I don't always know what to expect, though. In one instance before office hours I was confronted with Murphy's Law and received a very powerful object lesson for my time.

I was busy grouting tiles earlier in the day with a rich, dark, charcoal grout. I am more flexible and dexterous using my bare hands, so I did not wear gloves. I had a great time spreading the grout and working it in between the tiles with the grout float, my hands getting messy from the grout. When I finished, I stood back to admire my hard work. Then I realized the time. I was late to pick up the children from school, so I quickly showered and got ready to leave, not realizing that my hands were still terribly stained from the grout.

Even after the shower, the edges and under my fingernails looked terrible. It looked as if I had been digging for diamonds in a mine. I scrubbed my hands as hard as I could, even using an old toothbrush to scrub away at my hands. It didn't work. I tried using oil to emulsify the grout residue. That didn't work, either. Despite my best efforts the grout simply would not come out.

I rushed to pick up the children and had to sign them out. Embarrassed, I signed the sheet to claim my little ones. I saw the after-school teacher's face when she saw my hands. "Odd", she must have thought, "this fellow is dressed up but his hands look atrocious". I couldn't hide my filthy hands, no matter what I tried to do.

Back at home, I tried scrubbing again. Nothing worked. I only got frustrated with my unsuccessful attempts. I thought of many different ways to hide my hands so no one would see them: keep them in my pockets, keep them under the desk, hold them at odd angles...anything to detract from the pitiful condition of my hands so that no one would notice them.

Finally, it dawned on me. Jesus was trying to reinforce a major truth to me in a remarkable object lesson: "What can wash away my sin? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus!" Isn't that the way it goes with sin? Typically, when someone is confronted with their sin, they do their best to discount or belittle the effects and impact of their sin. There's cover up. There are excuses. There is denial. Through it all, the sin is seen by others and there's no escaping it.

That, my friends, is where Jesus comes in. Listen to what He says in the Bible: Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." That's a relief, not just from the fruitless scrubbing and fig-leaf knitting, but from the problem of trying to hide the sin! Jesus says that we can just sit down and have a good, old-fashioned pow-wow with Him, Mano a mano. He tells us to come to the negotiating table and He'll assume all of the odds, all of the losses, and let us emerge as a winner. Now that's a deal!

I have some dirt to scrub off. Some crimson stains, and I want to get this embarrassing dross off of myself, once and for all. How about you? Remember, there's not much to it. Just ask Jesus to clean you up and start over fresh. Tell Him your sins, ask to be forgiven, and walk away clean. If you ned help, stop by our church. Our Pastor and Elders are more than willing to coach you along.

God bless you, as you bless others.
Elder Scott Hampton