As Cold As Ice

This winter parts of our nation experienced winter ice storms.

Such storms can be deceptively pretty yet turn dangerously harmful!

The nature of a stormy ice covering can be compared with mankind’s covering of sin.

The ice we expererienced left nothing untouched. Even the littlest branch, leaf or rock had a cold, glittery coating. Sin is no selector of persons. All have sinned and fall short of God’s expectations and requirements for a relationship with him. ( Romans 3:23)

The glitter and shimmer of a fresh coating of ice is pretty. It’s hard to think that something so pretty could be so harmful. Sin is like that. Satan, the Deceiver himself, often tempts us with that which looks pretty to the eyes. (Genesis 3:6) He tempts us with things that seem harmless and sometimes even good.

But just as ice hardens that which it touches, causing it to bend and break, sin hardened the hearts of mankind and broke our relationship with our Creator.

Unrepentant sin continues to weigh us down, bend and even break us.

Ice can be hard to detect, causing us to slip, fall and be injured.

Sin blinds us to the truth and can result in continued slips, falls and injuries.

But as the sun rises after an ice storm, revealing all those areas touched by ice by bouncing its light off of the glittery covering, Jesus, the Son, rose from the dead, revealing and conquering all sin! His resurrection allows the sin in our lives to be confessed and forgiven.

The warmth of the sun melts away the hardness of the ice covering and takes away its power to harm us.

Through the season of Lent we remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us on a cross and look forward to the celebration of His resurrection. We can ask God to let His Sonlight reveal the icy hardness of sin in our lives and melt it away for Jesus’ sake. Without that weighty burden we are free to grow and flourish, producing the fruit of righteousness and sharing the truth of His love and sacrifice with others!