Swept Away / 涂抹

[Dexu Xia]

Swept Away

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Isaiah 44:22

When he invented the pencil eraser, British engineer Edward Nairne was reaching instead for a piece of bread. Crusts of bread were used then, in 1770, to erase marks on paper. Picking up a piece of latex rubber by mistake, Nairne found it erased his error, leaving rubberized “crumbs” easily swept away by hand.

With us too the worst errors of our lives can be swept away. It’s the Lord—the Bread of Life—who cleans them with His own life, promising never to remember our sins. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake,” says Isaiah 43:25, “and remembers your sins no more.”

This can seem to be a remarkable fix—and not deserved. For many, it’s hard to believe our past sins can be swept away by God “like the morning mist.” Does God, who knows everything, forget them so easily?

That’s exactly what God does when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Choosing to forgive our sins and to “[remember them] no more,” our heavenly Father frees us to move forward. No longer dragged down by past wrongs, we’re free of debris and cleaned up to serve, now and forever.

Yes, consequences may remain. But God sweeps sin itself away, inviting us to return to Him for our clean new life. There’s no better way to be swept away.

涂抹

我涂抹了你的过犯，像厚云消散；我涂抹了你的罪恶，如薄云灭没。-以赛亚书44章22节

在1770年代，还没有发明橡皮擦前，人们会用面包皮擦去纸上的墨迹。英国工程师爱德华．纳尔恩（Edward Nairne）原本要拿一块面包皮擦去错字，却误拿了一块橡胶，结果发现效果更好，而且残留的橡皮屑也可轻易用手清除。

我们生命中的一切错误也可被清除。主耶稣牺牲自己的生命除去我们的罪，并且应许祂将永不再记念。以赛亚书43章25节说：“惟有我为自己的缘故涂抹你的过犯，我也不记念你的罪恶。”

我们众罪尽被除去，这是何等奇妙，实在是我们不配得的，以致许多人无法相信上帝能除掉我们的罪，使其如云雾消散。这位知道万事的上帝，真的能忘记我们的罪吗？

当我们接受耶稣为救主，天父就会赦免我们的罪，并且永远“不记念”我们的过犯，祂会使我们得自由释放。我们不再因过去的罪恶而沮丧，也不再受罪的束缚，并要成为洁净的器皿得以服事上帝，从今直到永远。

虽然我们仍需承担罪的后果，但上帝亲自擦去我们所有的罪，邀请我们来到祂面前得着清洁的新生命。实在没有比这更好的除罪方式了！

主啊，感谢祢，涂抹我一切的过犯，
让我在祢里面有新生命。
求祢让我明白祢赦罪的真理，使我的心充满喜乐。

过去有什么罪让你无法释怀呢？
祈求上帝照祂应许为你除去吧！