Stained Hands

As I look at my fingernail beds today, they are dark and they have been that way since a couple of Saturdays ago.  Of course, my daughter Anna's fingers look worse than mine.

On Saturday, she and I peeled the hulls off of many black walnuts.  They still aren't cracked (that's a fun activity for another day), but they are ready to be.  Walnut juice stains really deeply.  Even after multiple scrubbings, the stain remains.

Last Monday, Anna's teacher even made her go wash her hands, because they looked so dirty.  I guess at least it's clean dirt...

I think of the verse from Psalms "Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?  And who shall stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart..."  This verse speaks of clean hands, but one can have filthy, walnut stained hands and still have clean hands before God.

The verse is clearly speaking of sin stains.  These are stains that go far deeper than even the subcutaneous layers.  These are stains that go to the heart.

There is a tendency to think that the remedy for sin is good deeds.  We just need to do more good than bad and that will clean the dirtied hands.  The only problem is that it doesn't work.  Sin stains are a lot more tenacious than even black walnut juice.

In the end, the only thing that will wash away these stains is the blood Jesus Christ.  For only the power in His blood can make my hands clean and heart pure before Him.