Forgiveness

I went to the bank yesterday to deposit a check. I looked in the back of the checkbook and there were no deposit slips. Lots of checks… lots of ways to spend money… lots of opportunities to get rid of money but no deposit slips… no easy way to put money into my account.

I looked at the teller with that face of improvisation and said, “Oh, I guess I need to use one of these” as I grabbed the generic brand deposit slip where you have to use your own pen to write down every bit of information known to you and all of your Facebook friends. I filled in every space without incidence until it came to the part known as “Account Number”.

It had about 11 little rectangles where I was supposed to put my account number. “No worries”, I thought as I looked at a blank check with about 20 numbers on the bottom of the check. So I got started with great gusto, copying down the numbers into the 11 little rectangles. About halfway through I realized that I had more numbers than little rectangles. Sheepishly I looked up at the teller. She had a big smile on her face. “I think I am writing down the wrong numbers”, I confessed. Her answer was straight and to the point. “Yes you are.”

I reached for a new generic deposit slip. My suggestion, “Should I just start all over?” was quickly rebuffed with one smooth action on her part. She grabbed a little gizmo called the “Bic Wite-Out” and with three quick strokes she “whited-out” my mistakes. I stood there rather amazed. Where there was once scribble and wrong numbers, now there was just pure white space. A blank slate. I wrote down the correct numbers, slid the deposit slip over to the teller’s waiting hand and within fifteen seconds my deposit was secure. I looked at her and she looked at  me. She smiled. I smiled and walked out the door, laughing in spite of myself.

Here’s my “iWitness”…

With three quick strokes of the “Wite-Out” my mistakes at the Bank were wiped clean.
With three nails pounded through the body of Jesus, my mistakes in the Bank of Life were wiped clean.

In all my efforts to say, “should I start over?” or “should I do this or should I do that?”, Jesus is quick in His response – “No, I’ve got this!” And with three nails my sins are forgiven. Jesus does that which I cannot do for myself. The forgiveness of my sins.

I look at Jesus. Jesus looks at me. He smiles, even begins to laugh. I smile and walk on, forgiveness of sins securely desposited in the Bank of Grace, humbly laughing in the amazement of it all, grateful for the one who forgives, the one who “wites-out” my sins…

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow…” Isaiah 1. 18

That’s my iWitness…
Laugh often and Fear Not!
David!