DEVOTION//Say no to the beach

This could ruin your day at the beach.

Beach-goers at Maine's York, Wells, and Ogunquit Parks are coming away with blackened feet.

Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection sent Steven Dickson, a marine geologist, to investigate. Dickson enlisted two retired oceanographers. All three were surprised when they examined a sample of beach sand under a microscope.

"It wasn't some kind of algae or an oil spill like you would expect; it was just a whole bunch of dead bugs in the water," John Lillibridge, one of the oceanographers, explained.

A number of beach-goers reported the stain on their feet did not come off, even after scrubbing with soap and water. According to an MSN report, the threat of black stains on their feet has not deterred some from returning to the beaches.

The people of Jeremiah's Jerusalem were like those sun-bathers. They were so attracted to the rituals of Baal worship that they couldn't stop returning to "Baal Beach." They continued to stain themselves with idolatry. And no matter how they tried to wash away their sin, the stain remained.

"Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD (Jeremiah 2:22).

Of course, the worship of gods other than the LORD continues today. Even Christians struggle with granting people and pleasure, careers and comforts a higher priority than the God who freely forgives them through Jesus. And once stained by breaking that First Commandment, there is no way for humans to erase the evidence of that sin.

How wondrous that the God we have offended would himself provide the Stain-remover we need. But more than scrubbing away the stain of sin, in Jesus he has transformed us into eternal beings destined for life in his heaven. Isn't that his promise? Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Thank God that his grace has washed away your sin. Recommit yourself to living as the grateful radiant, holy, blameless being you are. Stay off the beach.