THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9612310220
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Guest Column
SOURCE: BY CARLTON R. UPTON SR.
LENGTH: 65 lines
HOW MANY OF YOU can remember when some years ago - teachers in grade school would punish you for being mischievous by keeping you after school and having you write your name on the blackboard 100 times?
During those days, a child was embarrassed to receive such disciplinary punishment; not so today.
The amazing result was that, after having you write your name so many times, the teacher would direct you to erase the blackboard. That was the end of the punishment. You would start the next day with a clean slate.
Some of us wish we could start life all over again - or at least to have had the opportunity to pick and choose how to manage or orchestrate our lives. Some of us feel that God botched it when His hands intervened in the affairs of humanity. Others believe that God has nothing to do with our lives but that life in general has just dealt them a raw deal.
Then there are those of us who wish we could erase some wrong we have committed or some pain we have caused; right some wrong; wipe some eyes we have caused to shed tears; give some words of encouragement instead of being contrary; shed some joy rather than causing sadness; acted as a peacemaker instead of a troublemaker. Yes, there are those things we need to get right with God first and then with our brothers and sisters.
As I read Jeremiah 31:31-34 of the Holy Writ, I find there is a way to wipe the slate clean: It is written in this Old Testament Scripture that ``the lamb of God that shall take away the sins of the World.'' God promises a new covenant, guaranteed to be failure proof.
Forgiveness by God rather than covenant renewal by people stands at the center of the new covenant. God forgets sins - made possible by Jesus, God's son, through His life, death and resurrection. Jesus fulfills the obligations of the old covenant and opens the door of forgiveness to the new.
Jeremiah's message is that God 's new covenant will be the essence for the salvation of mankind.
The immortal soul, beautiful in itself and created in the image of God, has been stained with evil. Yet the wonder-working power of the blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse from the stain of sin.
I heard Isaiah say, ``Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool'' (Isaiah 1:18). And the hymnologist wrote, ``There is a fountain filled with blood; drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains.'' Oh, how many times will we wish we could start with a clean slate.
Governors of various states grant conditional clemency to persons who have broken the laws of the state. This means that there are conditions that must be kept in order for them to remain out of jail.
There are no conditions when one's life is given to Christ. We are to come just as we are. And whatever we have done in the past, we are forgiven, and the slate is wiped clean.
As you begin the New Year in 1997, start with a clean slate. Let Jesus Christ be the center and focus of your life.
Love, peace and power,
Carlton R. Upton Sr. MEMO: The Rev. Carlton R. Upton Sr., pastor of Tabernacle Christian
United Church of Christ, 1401 E. Washington St., Suffolk. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
The Rev. Carlton Upton is pastor of Tabernacle Christian United
Church.