The Ultimate Stain Removal System

A couple of weeks ago while running my weekly errands, I remembered I was running low on bathroom cleaner.  I'm not one who likes harsh cleaners.  In fact, I try to use eco-friendly cleaners whenever possible.  Unfortunately, old houses like ours come with old fixtures, including our bathroom fixtures, particularly the tiny little shower in the master bathroom.  It's comprised of some form of plastic, but regular cleaners won't even touch the grime and mildew that can gather there.  No, for that task I need a heavy duty cleaner with bleach.  And with my aversion, I usually prefer the kind that you spray on, let sit for five minutes, then come back and rinse.  Voila, clean!

Anyway, I was at the Dollar Tree and decided that their cleaner with bleach would work just as well as the expensive stuff I could get at Walmart or the grocery store.  Boy, was I wrong!  Yesterday was the first day to use my new cleaner.  I prepared myself for the overwhelming stench of the bleach, opened the bottle and began spraying.  Within seconds, I realized there was very little odor coming from this cleaner.  For all the smell it was putting out, it could have been water.  Maybe it takes time, I thought.  And so I did a thorough spray, closed the bathroom door and walked away.  Several minutes later I returned to a bathroom that smelled clean but not bleachy.  The shower, however, didn't look a bit different.  Even after a thorough rinsing, I still couldn't tell that I had done anything.  Even scrubbing didn't help.  Frustrated, I decided the shower could wait until I had the chance to buy some real cleaner.  It seems the bargain cleaner wasn't such a bargain after all.

You know, there are a lot of people today trying all kinds of "cleaners" to wash away their sins.  They do good deeds.  They attend church.  They say their "Hail, Mary's".  They marry the right person, take the right job, and wear the right clothes.  They count on their works, their baptism, their money, their family, their church and everything else under the sun to buy their way into Heaven.  But just as I was misled with the bargain cleaner, so are they being misled.

Jesus Himself said, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me."  There is only one way to Heaven.  Count it--ONE!  Jesus is not a good way or the best way; He is the only way.  Only by acknowledging our sinful state and accepting Christ's sacrifice on the cross can we receive salvation.  Yes, it is a gift, but a gift only becomes yours once you accept it.  Salvation has been offered.  The ball is now in your court.

Salvation is the ultimate stain removal system.  Not only does it cleanse us of the sins that we've already committed, but it also wipes away all future sins (not that it gives us a license to sin).  Beyond that, because of the blood of Christ, when God looks at us, He doesn't see any evidence of sin.  No marks.  No blemish.  No stains.  In His eyes, we're completely clean, unlike my shower.

Long ago, I made the choice to accept salvation through Christ and Christ alone.  Have you made the same decision?  If not, today you have a choice.  You can keep trusting in bargain cleaners that will never get the job done, or you can accept the free gift of salvation offered to you through the blood of Jesus, the ultimate stain fighter.  Choose wisely.  Your eternal future depends on it.

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. - Joshua 25:14