"Go ye into all the world and
 preach the gospel to every creature."
- Mark 16:15

So God had been teaching me.  In fact, He had been teaching me alot.  At this point I had learned some very practical things about living the Christian life...

...but God wasn't finished yet.

The fourth plague that came into my life really got my attention.  It wasn't so much the severity of the plague, but rather the all important message that I received from the plague.

As I already explained in a previous devotional, I didn't have any money at this point in my life.  Things were really tight and times were hard on me.  I didn't have many clothes either.  In fact, everything that I owned could be put in one load of laundry.  I had just enough shirts that I could wear a different one each day of the work week.   Laundry was fairly easy. ;-)

One day I was doing my laundry when something terrible happened.  I accidentally left an ink pen in the pocket of a pair of pants.  IT SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY as I stood there with tears streaming down my face as I looked at every stitch of clothing that I owned covered in ink stains.  All of them were ruined, nothing was spared.

Brothers and sisters, let me tell you, it hurt.  I broke down right there in my grandmother's utility room.  I had been having a miserable time anyway, everything seemed to be going the wrong way...and now this.  All of my clothes were ruined.  I cannot describe just how totally depleted I felt that day.  It was certainly a very low point in my life.

I tried everything I knew to try in order to remove those stains.  I scrubbed until my fingers were rubbed raw.  I used every stain remover that I could find.  I labored for hours over those clothes.  I tried everything that I possibly could try to get those stains out.  But nothing worked.

There was nothing I could do.  I picked out the best ones and that's what I wore until my next paycheck.  And you know what?  Even though it hurt me, even though it embarrassed me to wear those stain covered clothes to work and to the grocery store and everywhere I went...

...I wouldn't change it if I could. 

You see, God taught me one of the most important truths that a person can ever learn.  It's a truth I am going to share with you and, in turn, I hope you share it with others.  That simple truth is this...

...Only Jesus can get the stains out. 

See, a sinner can try everything he knows to do, but he'll never be able to get them out.  He can try to be a good moral person, attend church, do good works, confess to a priest, try everything he knows to try, but when God looks at him, He sees him as a person who is still wearing spiritual clothing with ink stains on them.

Only Jesus can get the stains out.

And guess what?  You and I are supposed to share that simple truth with others.  In Mark's Gospel Jesus tells us to "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

And the gospel is simple:  "You can't get the stains out...

...but Jesus can."

Have a "Wonderful DAY in Christ,"
Jimmy D. Brown
\o/ Praise Jesus!