New Thinking. New Start.

 "Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18 (New King James Version)

In Jonathan Acuff's Stuff Christians Like, he tells of a little boy and his swirl of soft serve ice cream. He is allowed to include any topping he wishes. Confused by his options, the little boy accidentally covers the gleaming service of his treat with mustard. Spotting his mistake, an employee instantly invites the little boy to start with some new ice cream, but he won't. Instead, he settles. He mixes the mustard into a sickly swirl, and he chokes down every spoonful.

If our hearts have been pricked by Isaiah 1 have come to a mustard moment. Our efforts to treat ourselves, indulge ourselves, even, have come to naught. The full weight of wrong, and not just mistaken, choices has hit us. We swing from self-pleasing pride to despondency. Yet, the Lord calls to us in this pit with the words that open Isaiah 1:18. Come now, He says. Move from far and getting farther as you realize your guilt, and start moving TOWARD the sound of My voice. That voice, God says, the same voice that spoke us into existence, is going to talk us back from the ledge of our sin. Just as I expertly convinced you of your guilt by showing victimized human examples, so I am convincing you that a new start sweeter than new ice cream is possible in Me.

But for the Holy Spirit's persistence, we would rather follow through with eating the mustard ice cream, with insisting on our perpetual guilt like the prodigal son protesting his father's embrace. May our wrestling matches and our arguments with the Lord be quickly decided in His favor, for He has no possibilities for us along with His new mercies. He DEFINES new, and He often starts with our corrupted thinking only He can fully regenerate.