Some cooking pans can’t be soaked in water. Cast iron will rust, and stoneware has to be seasoned to keep food from sticking. Others we don’t have time to let soak, and we can’t afford to damage our stainless steel or nonstick surfaces with a scouring pad.
There is a way to get our dirty pans clean.
A company called Pampered Chef regularly includes a square-shaped plastic scraper with their stoneware baking products to facilitate the cleaning process. Each corner is rounded to a different degree of sharpness to easily scour every nook and cranny. No matter how tightly affixed our residue, it comes right off, and we can gently wash our dish quickly and easily, retaining our seasoning for another day.
Scraping also works on the sin that gets stuck to us. Jesus is our plastic scraper, and deftly and easily, he removes the detritus of our humanity, leaving the seasoning of his salvation to ensure that we continue to walk in his love.
2 Corinthians 5:21 reveals God’s plan to form Jesus into a scraper for our sins:
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Acts 4:12 says he’s the best scraper around:
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Isaiah 53:5 describes Jesus’ four rounded corners that reach every nook and cranny of who we are:
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”
1 John 1:9 gives us the right amount of detergent to start the process:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 Peter 2:24 sees our sins being washed down the drain:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
James 5:15 is our testament of cleanliness, our polished shine of health, and our guarantee of salvation in Christ.
“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
We don’t need to soak the sinner in rules and regulations, or usurp the unrepentant by heavy-handed harassment. We need to dig Jesus out of the drawer and let him do what he does best, scrape away our sin so we can watch it swirl down the drain, gone forever.
Jesus removes our sin gently and with care, scraping away until every last bit is gone, leaving us whole and pure to share his love with all mankind.
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