That Old Eraser Magic

That Old Eraser Magic

After scrubbing my old pedestal tub with every cleanser known to man, I’d almost given up on it ever gleaming again. I’d tried gritty bath cleaners. Frothy foams. Strong-smelling bleaches. But no matter what I used, the water stains and the dingy not-quite-white smudges refused to budge. I kept the shower curtain tucked into the tub and hoped any hall bathroom guests were polite enough not to peek.

But lo and behold, in the cleaning products aisle I noticed the image of an old bald friend with an earring and a promise. Mr. Clean: the man who shows up in strangers’ kitchens with his own mop. When I saw the bright-blue box that said “Magic Eraser,” I immediately thought of my tub and tossed the tiny sponge into my cart. Nothing ventured, nothing cleaned.

I confess I was skeptical. The bright-white eraser sponge didn’t look magical at all. But I wet one as instructed, knelt beside the tub, and started scrubbing. In a few seconds, the stains I couldn’t erase to save my life were disappearing. When I got up off my knees, my tub was spotless (although the sponge was wrecked). All day long I kept pulling the shower curtain back to look again—as if the spots were hiding and would return if I were not vigilant.

Something I didn’t expect to work did. A problem I had resigned myself to live with was eradicated. And I couldn’t help but think of my own sin-stained heart and the amazing “magic eraser” that is the blood of Christ. It’s hard to imagine that blood could be an efficacious cleansing agent, but it is. It’s hard to believe that something as filthy as the rags of my own attempted righteousness could be made white as snow. But they have been. They are.

By Jesus’ perfect, sinless sacrifice offered once for all, my stubborn sin has been erased. And by that same sacrifice he keeps on cleansing me when I soil what his blood has made clean. It’s better than magic. It’s grace. And it’s amazingly, desperately, wondrously good.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:8-9, ESV