Today was the perfect day to give Elroy a bath. Elroy is my car and he was so dirty I couldn’t take it anymore. He was covered with so much road spray that I lost him in the grocery store parking lot after work yesterday. There was I, looking right at him, wondering where my pretty blue car went. Finally, I realized that that dirty gray car WAS my car and it was parked just where I remembered. Uffda! So today when temperatures dropped and the sun came out, I joined an endless line of dirty cars and awaited my turn.

And that’s where God revealed a piece of His heart to me.

The car wash loops back and forth, kind of like a mountain switchback, minus the mountain. Dirty cars going one way, clean cars passing the other way. It was rather comical to sit in line and observe; all the cars around me were a different shade of the same dirty gray. Suddenly, something bright and shiny caught my eye – a beautiful red car parading past the line of filth.

“Yes! That’s going to be me in just a few minutes. Clean and sparkling!” My joy was tampered by the projected forecast for tomorrow – snow. I knew poor Elroy would be filthy again tomorrow, but at least he would be clean for the rest of the day. “Gee, it sure would be nice if there was some way to keep my car clean forever and not have to keep driving through the car wash,” I thought.

“That’s what I did for you.” God whispered in my ear.

That’s all it took, just that one thought dropped into my mind in the middle of a car wash line. That’s exactly what God did for me, for all of us. Before Jesus came, the only way to have our sins forgiven was to offer a sacrifice. People would offer a sacrifice to the Lord and they would be clean, but only for a moment. It wasn’t long before they sinned again and had to make another sacrifice. The cycle was endless – until Jesus.

When Jesus came to earth He lived an unblemished life. He never sinned, yet He took the sins of the entire world upon Himself and died in our place. Three days later He rose from the dead, forever victorious. He now offers us the free gift of Himself. He offers forgiveness for every sin we’ve ever done or will ever do in the future. If we accept Him and what He has done for us, we will be cleaner than a shiny car fresh out of the car wash.

When Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished!” He meant it (John 19:30). We are no longer caught in the never ending line of sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice for us was that powerful! We can now live in freedom; lives full of grace and peace and great joy.

Next time you drive through a car wash, take a moment to thank God for the incredible gift He has given you. Remember the sacrifice. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).”

Now that, my friends, is true love!

Until Next Time,

Josie

Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:11