There's a great show I like to watch. I'll go ahead and admit I love to watch it. In this show recently there was an episode where one of the main characters told someone that he had asked God for a sign that all the terrible things he had done over the years were forgivable. He thought that if God could forgive him, perhaps his son could as well. He asked that if God were willing to forgive him, that he would show him a white tulip, even though it was Boston and winter.
He's a fictional character. But he brings to mind all the people out there living their lives and plodding along, trying to put one foot in front of the other one - wishing that somehow there were a way to erase all the mistakes, all the bad choices, all the sin they've been responsible for. If only God would send a sign that he was willing to forgive.
God did. A sign more beautiful than a white tulip. He sent his own Son to bleed his life out for every last one of us that know we don't deserve forgiveness. He took our place, sacrificed his sinless self so that we could absolutely beyond a shadow of any doubt know that we are forgiven, if we only ask. He was raised again to life to prove that God has power over death, which we only face as the result of sin.
Now it's my prayer that I can be that white tulip. Help others see through my life, though faltering and imperfect, that I am forgiven. That I am loved. That there is nothing in this world, nothing we could do that could keep a single soul out of God's incredible love and desire for relationship.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8
