Graffiti Clean-up

So yesterday I was able to go with the Student Ministry @ Hope to do graffiti clean-up. The students had already done some graffiti clean-up in the area the previous day and the goal was to go back and get the rest done.

As we were painting, I kept thinking about the whole situation and how great an analogy could be drawn to our lives as Christians and graffiti clean-up. So here goes...

When we first come to Christ confessing that our way is wrong and that His way is the only way and we trust Him as our Savior He forgives us and chooses to remember our sin no more! The picture in my mind now is the wall that we painted ( I wish I had pictures to show you - didn't have my camera). Before it was covered in graffiti, for this analogy - sin, but then after we painted it it was clean you could not even see the old graffiti underneath. Now please understand this is not a perfect analogy. God has the power to completely get rid of our sin. It is GONE, unlike the graffiti, which is still there just covered by a layer of paint. However, the picture is the same. The wall is clean of imperfections.

As we were painting the point was brought up that this would probably have graffiti on it again within a short amount of time. This is true, and this also parallels our lives so perfectly! After we become a Christian, there will still be times, many times that we mess up and sin. That is just like us painting graffiti all over a wall that God has cleaned for us.

Our God is patient and loving and just and if we confess the sin in our life to Him, He will clean the graffiti off again. In NO WAY does this give us the right to simply do whatever we want because we have this promise of forgiveness! For the believer, this is never the desire! The desire is to become more and more like Christ.

"So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace...But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them so not belong to him at all.)" Romans 8:6, 9