In my current season of caregiving for aging parents I now find myself on my hands and knees each day washing out incontinence pads.
At first, I was running them through my washing machine each day. But they are so incredibly heavy when wet that they were continually throwing my washer off balance in the spin cycle. I was afraid they were going to damage my washer. So, I resorted to washing them out by hand each day.
When the weather was still pleasant, I would wash the “potty pads” out on my back deck, give them a good rinse-down with the garden hose, and let them dry in the fresh air and sunshine.
But Fall has arrived, winter is approaching, and the weather has turned cold. I now find myself kneeling next to the bathtub each day as I wash out the “potty pads.”
As the heavy overpowering smell of urine wafts up as I wash the “potty pads” the verse goes through my mind: “All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.” – Isaiah 64:6
These smelly “potty pads” are a good picture of what our all our “goodness” is like to God when we try to get to Heaven by our own “good deeds.” We try so hard to be “good enough” so that we can gain access to Heaven. We do good deeds, thinking all these good things will impress God so that He will let us in to Heaven.
But God looks at all our “good deeds” and they stink! They are just like “potty pads” soaked in urine, with lingerings of poop accidents mixed in.
“There is no one righteous, not even one. … there is no one who does good, not even one.” – Romans 3:10-12
“God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” – Psalm 53:2-3
Dementia is a disease which affects the brain. Slowly, bit by bit, the brain shuts down. The doctor gave us the most helpful explanation when he explained it to us this way:
Just like a baby goes through developmental stages as the brain grows – learning to speak, learning to eat, learning to walk, learning to go to the toilet, etc. … – so also, in the same way, when it comes to dementia the brain shuts down in reverse – losing the ability to speak, losing the ability to eat by oneself and needing to be fed pureed food, losing the ability to walk, losing the ability to control one’s bladder and bowels, etc. …
Someone with late-stage dementia does not know they are having potty and poop accidents. It just happens. They can’t help it.
In the same way, this right here is what humanity is like when it comes to sin. All people, across the whole world, have a sin problem. We are all sinners. Our very nature as a human is to sin and do wrong things.
Just like someone with late-stage dementia is lying there in a poop accident and can’t do anything about it … in the same way this is what humanity is like when it comes to our sin problem. We are covered in the nastiness of our sin and we can’t do anything about it.
But Jesus can help us!
Jesus left Heaven and came down to earth to help us with our sin problem. Jesus can take all our nastiness and sin away! Jesus can clean us up!
But Jesus’s clean-up of our mess is far better than my washing out of the “potty pads” each day. Jesus completely gets rid of our sin! Jesus forever removes our sin from us!
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he [Jesus] removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12
Not only that … Jesus heals us completely! Imagine a late-stage dementia person being completely healed! No more disease of the brain. No more potty or poop accidents. Healed and made new!
This right here is what Jesus does with us when it comes to our sin problem!
Jesus takes away our “disease” of sin … Jesus completely takes away our sin nature … and Jesus makes us brand new! Jesus gives us a new nature. Jesus heals our sin problem!
“When you were dead in your sins and in your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins … he took it away.” – Colossians 2:13-14
Have you given all your sin and all your “ick” to Jesus? He can take it all away. He can make you clean. He can make you brand new!
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.” – Romans 10:13
