Jewel # 50 (Nov 28, 2009)

"And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up MY JEWELS."
(Malachi 3:17)

To my dear grandchildren,

The Chimney Blackbird

When the weather begins to turn colder, have you ever noticed that blackbirds and starlings collect around the tops of warm chimneys?  If it gets crowded up there, sometimes there is pushing and shoving and squawking among the birds to find a warm spot.

One September afternoon, a blackbird had somehow gotten inside the oil furnace chimney above the roof of our house.  Even though the furnace was off, there was warmth from the morning use of the furnace, and the bird either fluttered or fell to the bottom of the chimney.  But soon it wanted to be out of there!

We could hear the bird fluttering and scratching, but it could not fly back up to the top opening.  It was hopelessly trapped, and we felt sorry for it, as it struggled inside the chimney to get out.

The only way for that blackbird to have its freedom was for us to take apart the top of the furnace so we could reach the bird and take it outside to set it free.   After considerable effort, we finally were able to capture the bird inside the  chimney.

The blackbird was black to start with, but now it was blacker with the soot and filth of the chimney.  We carried it outside to the garden hose.  But even after most of the soot was washed off, that blackbird still remained black - because it was born a blackbird.

You and I each have a sinful nature that we were born with, and we can't change it.  But we can have the soot and filth of our sins washed away.  However, water won't do it, nor will trying to lead a good, clean life help.  Being helpful to our friends and neighbours won't remove a single sin either.  God's Word says, "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses [good deeds] are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).  That makes us just as helpless to remove our sins as that blackbird was to get rid of the chimney soot.  But the garden hose was the remedy for the blackbird.  The bird was washed clean and set free.

God and His Son Jesus are offering you and me the remedy to remove our sins forever.  The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed on the cross has the power to wash us clean from every sin and to set us free.  "The blood of Jesus Christ [God's] Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).  "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

The blackbird was released - clean and free again.  But have you been released - clean and free?
 Have you been to Jesus to have your sins washed away? 

What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
So that not one spot remains?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Nothing can for sins atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Nothing good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!