© 2013 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

Most folks don’t like rats! We consider them to be smelly and nasty purveyors of filth and disease. Some might even say, “The only good rat is a dead rat!”

When I was a young boy, however, my older sister, whom I greatly respected, brought home a rat. Imagine my surprise when she cleaned it up and declared it to be a pet. She even gave it the name “Pushy.”

In some ways, my sister’s affection for “Pushy” was similar to God’s love for sinners. Ever since the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, sinned against God by disobeying His command not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-3:19), mankind has rendered himself repulsive to God. Under God’s inspiration, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities (Isaiah 64:6-7).” The Apostle Paul describes our vile nature in the following vivid terms: “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:13-18).”

In our natural state, we are more repulsive, in God’s sight, than sewer rats are to us. Yet God used the same Apostle Paul, who wrote of man’s extreme repulsiveness, to share the following wonderful and exciting news. Writing to Christians in Rome, Italy, Paul said, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” Christ Jesus the Lord offers mercy to all who renounce their sinfulness and cry out to Him for forgiveness!

Are you like an un-forgiven sewer rat or has God, through faith in Christ, redeemed you to Himself, washed you, and adopted you forever?

 

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