God is good. He promises to take care of us, He provides for us, and He gave His only Son for us. In spite of all that God does for us, we still let Him down. As humans, we will sin, and we will sin again. The Bible tells us in a familiar verse, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7). We all sin, ministers, elders, deacons, teachers, everyone commits sin. Each of us has our own issues we must battle. The good thing which we read in First John is that we in Christ are able to have the slate wiped clean! The online dictionary defines “wiping the slate clean” as “to forget about previous disagreement or charges, and make a fresh start.”
Years ago, people could go into a general store and buy things “on account”. A record of transactions and money owed was written on a slate. At that time, the debt was to be cleared on payday and the slate wiped clean. Although slate was eventually replaced by paper, and now electronic transactions, the term “wiping the slate clean” still remains in use today. Another use of the expression stems from a nautical source. The course steered and distances covered by a ship were recorded during each watch on a slate and after they were entered into the official log at the end of a watch, the slate carrying the ongoing recordings was wiped clean, ready for the next watch to begin a fresh record.
Romans 6:1 asks, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul answers strongly, “Certainly not!” We as Christians have died to sin and should strive earnestly to resist the charms of the devil. Will we fail? Yes. When we begin our walk in the Light, our slate, covered with a lifetime’s records of sin, is wiped clean for eternity. Christians know the experience of forgiveness and of knowing that the record has been wiped clean and that each day’s transgressions can be freshly wiped away if we obey His will.
For the elders, Tony Williams