A Season of Snow
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...”
Isaiah 1:18
Bing Crosby’s rendition of “White Christmas” isn’t merely one of my seasonal favorites, it is in fact the best-selling single of all time. There’s something about snow on Christmas that resonates with nearly everyone.
It certainly did for Irving Berlin. He wrote the song back in 1940, ironically while sitting by a swimming pool in Phoenix, Arizona.
The thing is having a white Christmas (usually defined as at least 1” of snow on the ground) most of the time ends up being merely a dream. For example, only 22% of Christmases in New York City are white – less than one out of four. Chicago does a bit better at 40%, while Buffalo and Cleveland slide in at 59%.
Further north, as you might imagine, the odds go up dramatically. Santa’s sleigh banks off snowdrifts a full 87% of the time in Anchorage, Alaska. And if you’re looking for a sure thing, head up to International Falls, MN. Those hardy folks are shoveling out on Christmas morning every single bone-chilling year. As for my hometown of Fort Wayne, IN, over the past 30 years, we’ve averaged 33%.
I know this probably isn’t widely shared but, truth be told, I like snow. I like it because it seems so peaceful and looks so beautiful.
Now, I’m not a fanatic about it. I want it to all be gone by March 1, but to my way of thinking…as long as it’s going to be cold, we may as well have snow.
Covering Up the Uglies
But another reason I like it is the imagery it prompts. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote:
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...” Isaiah 1:18
In my mind, one of the most beautiful sights in nature is a fresh blanket of newly-fallen snow. And when the sun glints off of it, the scene becomes dazzling.
That’s another reason I like snow. It covers up all the “uglies” in my yard. The leaves that never got raked. The junk I haven’t put away yet. For a few days, all of that is cleanly dealt with by a white covering.
When you stop to think about it, that’s a beautiful picture of what God offers to every one of us. You see, the fact is, all of us are like my back yard – some better, some worse – but to varying degrees, all of us are “junked up.”
And yet God reaches out to us – “Come, let us reason together…” That is to say, “You know and I know the extent of your junk. But greater than the depth of your guilt is the depth of My grace.”
God reaches out to us and says, “Come, let us reason together…” That is to say, “You know and I know the extent of your junk. But greater than the depth of your guilt is the depth of My grace.”
This is the true meaning behind the joy of this season. God gave us the ultimate Christmas gift. It was exactly what we needed.
A Christmas card I received a few years ago grasped this so well:
If our greatest need was information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need was technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need was money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need was pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
so God sent us a Savior.
(Roy Lessin)
Not Guilty!
Are we junked up? Yep – every one of us. Scripture tells us that “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard…
But it also tells us of the solution to this problem – “…yet now God declares us ‘not guilty’ of offending Him if we trust in Jesus Christ who freely takes away our sins.” Romans 3:23-24 (LB)
Note that line, “declared not guilty.” It’s a legal term. As if a judge is rendering a verdict: “Not guilty! Case dismissed!”
How can that be? How can God, the ultimate righteous Judge, allow us to go free even though our sins are as scarlet? It’s not a matter of insufficient evidence. It’s not that a payment didn’t have to be made or that a penalty didn’t have to be paid.
Rather, that payment…that penalty…was taken care of through the sacrifice that Jesus offered through His death on the cross. The guilt that was ours was shouldered by Him. The judgment we deserved was placed on Him. Jesus covered up our junk …leaving the landscape of our lives white as snow.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You that, by Your grace, my sins can be white as snow. Help me to look for ways that I can share this gift with others who need a season of snow in their lives.
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