A story is told of a man whose children each won a goldfish from a carnival. Not having anything to put them in... the man went to a local pet store for a tank. As he walked past the expensive aquariums, a sale tag caught his eye. Five dollars for a used fish tank. Perfect. He bought the obviously used and dirty tank and took it home for a good cleaning. The fish looked beautiful swimming through the now clean glass. Then they started dying. One fish was gone by morning... one the next day... and the third? It held on for two full days. The man was confused... what had caused these fish to perish? Then he remembered... when he cleaned the tank he had used soap. A definite no-no. Good intentions... bad way of carrying them out.
Many times we treat our own lives the same way. Things get dirty... polluted... difficult.. and instead of running to God’s Word to get things clean... we use far more abrasive and toxic methods. We condemn ourselves and choose to become self-critical. Before long, we start to believe that what we did defines who we will always be. We see our stains as permanent and our errors as unforgivable... And soon after, that dream inside our heart begins to die. God has another way. A safer way. We need to allow Him to define us. We call ourselves messed-up... God calls us masterpiece. We say we’re cursed... God calls us blessed. Ready to do some cleaning? Don’t be harsh on yourself and abuse what Christ died for... allow His loving words about you to wipe away the smudges on your heart.
