Tommy South has a unique car.  He has used it to teach a unique lesson.

He writes: Some of my friends at church like to make fun of my car.  It’s been variously described as a mailbox, a refrigerator on wheels, a cracker box, and a mail truck.  You see, it’s a 2005 Scion XB, one of those boxy little imports that defies all our ideas of what “aerodynamic” means.  And, it’s white – “Arctic White” the manufacturer calls it – which adds to the refrigerator/mail truck/cracker box imagery.  But I don’t mind, because it’s a great little car.  It has served me well for more than ten years now, and at very little cost.

But last week-end I learned something about that car.  If you had asked me what color it is, I would have said without hesitation, “It’s white – Arctic White, to be exact.”  But last Saturday we had a snow storm, a big one (for us, anyway – 8-10”).  When I thought it was about over (I was wrong by about 6 hours!), I went out to clear the snow off our cars and shovel off at least part of the driveway.  While clearing the snow from my car, I suddenly realized that, compared to the snow, it isn’t very white at all!  In fact, as I brushed away the snow, my car looked somewhat gray and dingy, nothing like what I imagine the Arctic looks like!  Of course, it is white, but compared to that snow, it just doesn’t look it.

Seeing the whiteness of that snow against the supposed whiteness of my car reminded me of Isaiah 1:18, where God promises Israel that, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”  Then I remembered Psalms 51:7, which goes even further, as David pleads with God not to cast him off [due to his sin], but to “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”  What marvelous promises: God will cleanse us so that rather than being tainted by our sins, we are “as white as snow,” and when He washes us clean we shall be even whiter than snow.  We serve an amazing God!

Some may object to the idea of being called a sinner, saying, “I’m not that bad.  I’m not perfect, but I’m a pretty good person.”  They may view their personal righteousness as white – even Arctic white – compared to the dark sins of the world around them.  “I’m better than they are.”

Have you ever thought that way?

But compared to the pure, pristine righteousness of God, even the “Arctic-white, righteous” sinner is gray and dingy.  Actually, it’s worse than that.  Isaiah’s description of our sinfulness is more appropriate: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), even the “best” of us.

But that’s what makes God’s promises so wonderful: because of His great love for us, He desires to “wash us” and make us “whiter than snow.”  He has lovingly made provision for our sinful condition; we can be washed clean.

The provision is the blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 7:14).  The Lamb, who is Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died on the cross for our sins (1 Peter 2:24).

God will “wash in the blood of the Lamb” and make “whiter than snow” those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  Then, as we continue to we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son” will continue to cleanse us “from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Tommy South stated the good news well:  “So even if your life looks a bit dingy – even if it’s filthy with sins the color of scarlet – take heart.  You can be cleansed and become whiter than snow.  Not Arctic White, but better than that!”

Won’t YOU allow Him to wash you whiter than snow?

-- David A. Sargent

* “Whiter Than Snow” by Tommy South, Glen Allen Church of Christ, Richmond, Virginia as it appeared in PreacherStuff (1/17/17), an e-mail publication for ministers, edited by Dr. Dan Williams of Harding University

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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