Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Wiped Clean" Saturday, 26 April 2014 - Read Colossians 2:9-15

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Wiped Clean" Saturday, 26 April 2014 - Read Colossians 2:9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, 10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power; 11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; 15 having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Repent, . . . and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.--Acts 3:19 (NIV)
Offensive words — big, stark, and depressing — had been scrawled on the wall of the building. Someone came along with a can of paint and painted over the words. The result was a clean, attractive wall. I had inscribed across my life words, behaviors, and attitudes that were offensive to God. They often appeared in my mind, especially when I began to seek God. How could God, who is righteous, accept me with all the moral and spiritual graffiti polluting my life? Then I heard about Jesus Christ and the cross. Jesus saw the slate of my failures and offenses and paid the penalty for them. He not only forgave my sins, but also wiped my heart clean. By faith in Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have a new beginning, a new destiny. Calvary is the sign of sin’s defeat. Before the Lord, we are clean.
The Author: Raymond N. Hawkins (Tasmania, Australia)
Thought for the Day: The cross proclaims that we have been made clean.
Prayer: Thank you, dear God, for cleansing my life through the cross of Jesus Christ. May our lives be pleasing in your sight, according to your word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those who do not know Christ
-------