Lesson From the Beach
The beach is one of my most favorite places on earth. As I was sitting there today wiggling my toes in the sand, God brought a thought to my mind about the sand.
It might sound like a stretch but I’m going to try and explain grace and sin in the way I saw it from the beach perspective.
If you’ve ever walked along the beach where the water meets the sand you’ve probably noticed that where your footprint once was, the waves softly roll by and sweep the footprint away. It doesn’t take long to erase that single footprint.
God reminded me that His grace in Jesus for us is like the waves, washing over our sin, erasing them from remembrance. It doesn’t matter how deep you dig your feet into the sand, the waves will still erase your hole.
However, the deeper you dig your feet, the higher the sand goes on your legs, the harder it is to get free. It’s the same with sin. God’s ready to wash over the sin to erase it from eternity, but we often feel like we are so stuck in the pit of sin that getting out feels impossible. Sometimes at that point you need help from others to loosen the grip of sand or sinto help you step out. However, if you continuously dig yourself into pit after pit of sin, it will become exhausting for those who continuously dig you out.
Any pit dug that is far away from the water doesn’t have the effects of the waves to wash it away. You must draw near to the Living Water to erase your sins.
However, even with the footprints and pits washed away and erased from the waves, it doesn’t change the fact that you’ll end up with a lot of sand on your feet as you leave the beach. Even though we use the showers right at the edge of the beach to rinse off all the sand and we rinse and rinse and rinse we still end up with sand sticking with us. It ends up in our car and tracked into our house. We shower and finally feel free of sand. But for days, weeks, and sometimes even months, you’ll occasionally come across sand that had gotten left. In the crevices of your vehicle, in the corners of your house, or even in your ears (that was the case for my daughter 😑)
God was showing me that even though He washes away the footprints, there is still earthly consequences to sin that we must pay. Jesus paid the price for our eternal acceptance into heaven where we will be accepted as blameless and free of sin. However, the sand sticks with us for a time on earth. It shows up at random times. Just like the consequence of sin. This is why God teaches us in His Word the importance of obedience. He doesn’t want us dealing with sand everywhere in our life. Trying to sweep it into the closet. Trying to hide it under the rug. It’s NEVER enjoyable dealing with the aftermath of sin but that’s not something that God promised to erase for us. It’s through the work of sweeping and vacuuming that we learn the important lesson to not do the sin again to avoid the type of clean up you’re dealing with in the moment.
That’s the lesson I envision while sitting on the beach today. That, and the remembrance that God loves me more than the grains of sand on the earth. I am thinking of Him often and I can’t help but praise Him for all He is and all He does for me.
~ Rachel
