A Winter Wonderland

A thick layer of freshly fallen snow covers the yard like a pure white blanket. Tiny crater-like holes are scattered haphazardly under the trees—the result of snow falling from branches. The tracks of a rabbit cross the backyard. The ditch by the road shows evidence of children tumbling down the incline as they wait for the school bus.

Without the snowfall, I would never have known that a rabbit had scampered through the yard. Without the snowfall, I would not have realized that children liked to slide into the ditch. Free of snow, the trees would not bow down and shed their heavy load.

I was unaware of all these activities taking place in my yard. It took the snowfall to reveal them. Likewise, we are unaware of sin in our lives until we gaze upon the holiness of God. His purity sheds light on our sinfulness. Like Isaiah of old, we will fall down in dismay.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5 NIV).

If you feel like this, do not fear. Jesus paid the penalty for sinners. If you believe that Jesus died for you, then he will remove your guilt. Look to Jesus and live!

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Transitions

My joy last month that spring had arrived was short-lived. I need a new definition of the word “spring.” Seeing a robin on the lawn is not accurate enough. Even a temperature of 10°C (50°F) does not guarantee that spring is here to stay. Soon afterwards the temperature fell, and snow covered the ground at Easter. Two weeks later we experienced our first heat wave and summer storm of the year.

Perhaps spring is like a yo-yo. Because it is the transition from winter to summer, the temperature bounces from one extreme to another. Unlike the fall, where the temperature gradually gets colder, in spring it slowly climbs higher. If this is the case, I must apologize to those newscasters who rejoiced when the snow began to melt. Like spring, many transitions in life are difficult to perceive. For example, the change from childhood to adulthood is gradual. Nobody wakes up one day and says, “Yesterday I was a child, but today I am grown up.” To do so is fallacy.

In contrast, Easter reminds me of a very clear transition from the old to the new covenant. The evening before his crucifixion, Jesus celebrated the Jewish Passover with his disciples. Almost 1500 years earlier, the Israelite slaves in Egypt had sprinkled the blood of a lamb on their doorframes. That night the angel of death had killed the firstborn of every family not protected by the blood on the door. After finishing the Passover meal, Jesus instituted a new remembrance service. Under the new covenant we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection. At his death the veil in the temple split into two pieces. From that moment on, sacrificing animals became an insult to the effectiveness of Jesus’ blood on our behalf.

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