White Boards

   White boards were made to be useful tools for teachers. If you go to a school, you would be hardpressed to see a classroom without one; in fact, you would probably see more than one. Teachers spend hours each weekday writing notes and drawing diagrams on them. Students are always competing to be the chosen one to go up to the board and write the correct answer for all to see.
   For whatever reason, there is such joy in writing on a white board. First, there is the squeak of the cap being twisted as it is separated from the pen and the pop-snap as it is placed onto the other end of the marker for safekeeping. Then, the marker is touched to the smooth, white surface of the board and is prepared to write. Each stroke of the pen glides gently as it makes its intended mark. The sounds vary each time. Sometimes, the pen squeals as it writes, but other times, the pen sounds like it is dragging through sand. There is something calming and often mesmerizing about watching the ink bleed onto the board. After the sentence has been written, after the picture has been drawn, the cap covers the marker's tip with the sound of a whip cracking.
    When all is done, and the marker is placed back onto the silver ledge beneath the board, it must be erased. It seems ludicrous how much effort is put into making every line, every curve so perfect, only for it to be erased. Yet, this is the purpose of the white board: to be marked on and erased in an endless cycle. That is, in a cycle that lasts until it is too used up to be written on anymore.
    Humans are very much like white boards. When we are born it is inevitable for our clean hearts to be marked with sin because we are born with a sinful nature. In the case of a white board, it is a shame to see the hard work of a teacher or student to be erased off the board. But in the context of sin, isn't it wonderful to see the mark erased? Isaiah 1:18 says "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." There are often memories of past sins, similar to how markers sometimes leave a residue or an outline of erased words, but over time you will forget the guilt of committing the sin and only remember what you learned.
    Much like how the white board has no power to erase itself, we can not forgive our own sins. Jesus Christ is the only one who has the power and ability to forgive. He holds the most important eraser of all time: the cross. The comparison between the cross and an eraser is not intended to diminish the importance of the cross, but is used as an illustration. Unlike a teacher who comes to the board to erase it, Jesus does not come to us asking if we want to be forgiven. Instead, He stands with open arms, waiting for us to come to Him and ask for the cleansing of our sins.