An Option Far Superior to ‘White-Out’

Believe it or not, I learned to type on a real typewriter. The kind probably on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Not only that, but it was a manual typewriter, meaning the keys didn’t instantly depress with just a light touch as was the case with electric typewriters. You had to exert real finger power to push letters toward a piece of paper, along with inserting spaces between words, sentences and lines.

 

On top of that, we had a tool called “White-Out” that was necessary to make corrections. For younger readers, the typewriters we used couldn’t highlight words or sentences and then remove them either by hitting a delete button or by cutting and pasting. Nope, we had to make corrections and changes just as we typed – manually. The alternative was having to retype an entire page.

I mention this not to take a stroll down memory lane or offer a history lesson on the challenges of being a writer all those years before the invention of the desktop computer. It’s just that White-Out brings to mind what Jesus Christ did for each of us on the cross, although the analogy admittedly has limitations.

 

White-Out worked pretty well, but if you wanted to present a flawless paper – perhaps for a college class or to submit a manuscript – a careful observer could still see if incorrections had been covered up. On the other side of the paper, you could find impressions of errors still there. So, an error wasn’t truly removed; it was just concealed from view.

 

Contrast that with the atoning sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross when He shed His blood for us. Many believers refer to this as being “covered in the blood.” Ephesians 1:7 asserts, “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:20 expresses it another way: “and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”

 

Instead of “White-Out,” Jesus removed our sins, which the Scriptures also term as “transgressions,” with red – His own blood. Our sins that Christ atoned for, giving us complete and eternal forgiveness, aren’t just covered over, as if they could be swept under a rug. They are removed completely. We’re assured in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

 

If that’s not clear enough, the Lord assures us in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remember your sins no more.”

 

Many of us wrestle with memories of sins committed in the past, thinking, ‘How could I have done that?’ or ‘How could I have said that?’ God doesn’t have a problem with memory; He chooses to both forgive and forget our sins, wiping them away without a trace, unlike the typewriter’s “White-Out which merely covered over errors. 

 

As it says in Hebrews 9:14, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death….” Similarly, Romans 5:9 announces, “Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” 

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, is rightly termed “Good News” because we no longer need to be burdened by guilt for sins that can’t be undone. The last book in the Bible, opens with this reminder about “… [Jesus Christ] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood” (Revelation 1:5).

 

Perhaps at times you have found yourself dwelling on the past, wishing there were some kind of spiritual White-Out to make rueful memories and the consequences of your sins go away. At such times we need to remember Jesus has done something better – much, much better. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

 

The question is, have we truly received Christ as Savior and Lord? John 1:12 states, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” If we have that assurance, then we can find comfort and confidence in the promise of 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”

 

God uses neither White-Out nor whitewash. In the words of the old hymn, “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins; and sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” Not covered up – it’s gone completely. Amen and amen!

The Key for Overcoming Crushing Mistakes

If you’re a football history buff, you’ve probably heard about “Wrong Way” Roy Riegels. Even if you’re not, we all can learn a lot from his memorable mistake – and the way he reacted to it.

 

Roy Riegels running the wrong way.
(Wikipedia photo)

On Jan. 1, 1929, the California Bears were playing Georgia Tech in the Rose Bowl. An outstanding athlete, Riegels played on both the offensive and defensive lines. In the second quarter of the game, one of his teammates fumbled the ball at Georgia Tech’s 30-yard line. Riegels picked up the ball and started running with it – except in the wrong direction, toward his own team’s goal line. He was finally tackled at the Bears’ one-yard line, by one of his own teammates.

Georgia Tech scored a two-point safety on the next play, and those points made the difference in Tech’s 8-7 victory, which gave them their second national championship. For most observers, Riegels’ stunning mistake was responsible for his team’s defeat.

 

Many people haven’t heard what happened when Riegels returned to the sideline. Understandably distraught, he told his coach, Nibs Price, he wasn’t going back on the field. “Coach, I can’t do it. I’ve ruined you, I’ve ruined myself, I’ve ruined the University of California. I couldn’t face the crowd to save my life.”

 

Price looked in the eyes and responded, “Roy, get up and go back out there – the game is only half over.”

 

He did, and played an outstanding second half, including blocking a punt. Despite his efforts, Riegels’ team fell one point short, magnifying the two points Georgia Tech had scored because of his errant run. 

 

But he put the embarrassment and notoriety behind him, being named team captain his senior season, earning All-America honors, and helping California to a 7-1-1 record. Riegels refused to let the stigma of his wrong-way run turn into a life-crushing mistake.

 

Most of us don’t have to live down the infamy of such a public blunder. I’ve never experienced running the right direction on a football field, let alone the wrong one. But we’ve all made mistakes in our lives, some so minor that hardly anyone knows about them, but others that haunt us to this day.

 

As with Riegels, we can’t rewind those moments or erase them. Typically, our stumbles in life don’t offer us a do-over – or a mulligan, if you’re a golfer. We must face the consequences, and sometimes they’re severe. At such times we have two choices: We can crumble under their weight, or we can heed the advice of Riegels’ coach: “The game is only half over.”

 

One of the distinctive qualities of the Bible is its candor. It doesn’t varnish or sugarcoat the stories of its main characters. They’re presented in all their flaws, along with their sins. For instance, we have King David of Israel, who committed adultery with a married woman and then arranged for her husband to be killed in battle, hoping to cover up his misdeed. There’s impetuous Peter, who boasted of never forsaking Jesus – and then did exactly that. Then there’s Saul (later named Paul), who devoted his life as a zealous Pharisee to persecuting Christians. And many others.

 

Each recognized their sins but didn’t let those define them. When the prophet Nathan confronted David, he did not deny his wrongdoing or offer excuses. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13), and later wrote, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me…. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51:1-12).

 

Peter denied Christ three times while He was facing a Roman inquisition, but unlike Judas Iscariot, the apostle refused to let that be his final act. As we read in John 21:15-19, after Jesus’ resurrection, He restored Peter by asking him – three times – if he loved Him. Each time Peter would reply, “You know that I love you,” after which Jesus said, “Follow Me.”

 

Numerous times Paul had the opportunity to give testimony of his divine encounter with Jesus while traveling on the road to Damascus. The experience immediately took then-Saul off the persecution circuit and transformed him into a fearless ambassador for his Lord.

 

In 2 Corinthians 2:1-3, the once proud and self-confident Paul confessed to believers in Corinth, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.”

 

Each of these men, and many others in the Scriptures, committed seemingly unforgivable acts, and yet God forgave them completely. As it says in Psalm 103:12, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

 

This can be our experience as well, knowing that whatever we’ve done is part of our history, but need not be part of our future – if we repent of it, entrust it to the Lord, and receive His spiritual healing and forgiveness. As Paul wrote late in his life and ministry, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

 

Like Roy Riegels, the game isn’t over for us yet.

The Funny Thing About the East and West Never Meeting

Have you ever wondered why, if we started traveling and set a course due north, once we reached a certain point on the North Pole, we would start traveling southward – but when traveling in an eastward direction, at no point would we start traveling westward, unless we reversed course?

 

In his poem first published in 1889, “The Ballad of East and West,” Rudyard Kipling wrote the famous line, “East is east, and west is west – and never the twain shall meet.” On the face of it, it seems he’s pointing to the fact that unlike north and south, there’s never a point where east and west collide. However, it’s my understanding that Kipling wasn’t referring to directional travel. He was alluding to cultural differences between Eastern and Western societies – their ways of thinking and doing things. 

 

This may have changed somewhat since Kipling’s days, what with the explosion of all forms of communication and its increasingly global influence. Yet even today, peoples from different parts of the globe display markedly distinct forms of behavior, culture, social norms, and values. A person traveling from the U.S.A. to the Middle East, or the Far East, will quickly discover that some things acceptable, even encouraged, in the States can seem offensive to people in other parts of the globe. 

 

Ways of greeting one another, manners at mealtime, even how gratitude is expressed, can vary markedly from culture to culture. So, in that respect, the declaration that “East is east, and west is west – and never the twain shall meet” still holds true.

Thousands of years ago, a psalmist made an important reference to east and west. Attributed as one of the writings of Israel’s King David, it says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). For those of us who have been convicted of our sins and God’s judgment, we often tend to carry the guilt of our wrongdoings. This verse – when considered in light of the reality that no matter how far east we travel, we’ll never find ourselves traveling west – helps us to realize the extent to which the Lord has freed us from our sins.

 

During the Christmas season our thoughts are drawn to images in a tiny baby lying in a crude manger, surrounding Mary, Joseph, some animals in a stable, lowly shepherds who had come to worship the promised Messiah, and perhaps an angel or two hovering nearby. But the ultimate significance of this moment, God taking on human form to one day personally take on the penalty for the sins of humankind, doesn’t receive such focus. Even though it should.

 

One of the Scriptures’ most profound verses, Romans 5:8, declares, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” About 2,000 years ago, way before any of us could have been even a gleam in someone’s eyes. Jesus went to a crude, cruel cross for our sins – transgressions we would one day commit against the God who created us. 

 

Another verse that follows soon afterward affirms this incredible act wasn’t temporary, nor was it a partial gesture. “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:10). We find this truth expanded upon a bit in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for us once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” And through His bodily resurrection, He offers us new, transformed life as well – both in our earthly existence as well as for all eternity.

 

As it says in John 1:12-13, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

As Christmas day nears, many of us are fretting over the gifts we plan to give, as well as anticipating the gifts we hope to receive. Perhaps this is a good time – the best time – to consider whether we, or a dear loved one, have received the greatest gift of all: new life in Jesus Christ, with our sins removed as far as the east is from the west.