All The Better To See You With My Dear

I heard it again this morning.  "Your sin separates you from God." 

I watch TV preachers sometimes on Sunday mornings.  I turn on a Christian station and just let it play in the background while I read the paper or check my email.  You never know what you'll hear. Sometimes, I like what I hear. Sometimes, I don't. One thing I'm sure I will hear, at least once, "Your sin separates you from God", or some paraphrase thereof.  I aggravates me every time.

I've had a relationship with Jesus for over 64 years now, and when I hear that sentence there's still a tiny space in me that has a startle response, a quick intake of breath until I process what I've heard through The Spirit and say, "oh, but I'm not sin." Our sinfulness does not cause God to separate Himself from us. I know this, but I am aggravated that hearing it said still can cause that millisecond of anxiety.

 Isaiah 59:2 says,  "But your iniquities have been separating between you and your God, And your sins have hidden The Presence from you -- from hearing". This version of the scripture is from Young's Literal Translation and it is mostly correct.  When we hear this as if it says, "my sin and iniquity causes God to separate Himself from me and not listen to me", we are just wrong. 

Look back for a minute at a High School English subject-diagramming sentences (and, yes, Mrs Wright, I know you are in heaven having a good chuckle over all the times I groaned, "when will I EVER diagram a sentence in real life?"), and consider that the verbs in this verse are 'separating between' and 'have hidden'. These are the actions happening in the sentence.  

So what noun; people, place or thing, is performing these actions?  Iniquities and sins. These have been a part of the human condition since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. No human has escaped them-ever.  But Isaiah has already prophesied in 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."  

Isaiah  59:2 isn't trying to explaining something wrong with us, but foretelling something God corrected for us through Jesus. He is our ever present Bon Ami!

Do you remember a window cleaner used by attendants when service stations were full service? It was called "Bon Ami".  It was a white powder that when mixed with some water became a paste the attendant would smear all over your windshield. It would dry and then the attendant would wipe off the powder with a paper towel and, voila, a crystal clear view.

The chaff of life is life muck on our windshield. It is marring the view from our soul and clouding and distorting our view of God at times as well. Is it our muck? No, it's the muck of living in this world obsuring our view of Kingdom Life!

God is eternally present, always looking toward us, always listening, full of joy, peace and love for us. His face hasn't turned away-ever and yet we have life junk on our windshield obstructing our view of Him because we travel in this world not because we are the world.

The Message puts it this way, "Only Christ can get rid of the veil . Jesus removes the veil and there we are—face-to-face! We recognize that God is a living, personal Presence and our own faces shine with the brightness of his face.  

I don't think Jesus would mind at all being compared to  Bon Ami, all the grime of this world laid on Him, so we know that The Spirit of God is always redeming our view of who we are and what we are not!!


Jesus is the Divine window cleaner. No sin or iniquity can prevent you from seeing God or hearing from God.  Take a look! The Bon Ami Jesus View is awesome!