Blinding Snow

"Look how gorgeous that is!"
"Yeah."
"It makes me fall more in love with God."

Josh & I spoke as we began our snow jog.

After a full day of driving we arrived in Breckenridge, Colorado. The mountains were dark as we pulled into the cabin. We found our beds and fell fast asleep. When morning came we decided to go for a run up the mountain. I had asked Josh if he wanted to run uphill, to which he replied, "It's more like running up MOUNTAIN." Touche.

We ran on the roads & the packed snow crunched under our feet. It was a funny sensation. The sun shone brightly & the snow blinded our eyes. I squinted my eyes & looked off to the distance. It was actually painful to look at the snow! I had never experienced anything like this before. Beautiful snowbanks turned into piercing needles. In a puzzled wince I began to think... is this what it means to be white as snow?

Some of the snowbanks along the side of the road were whiter than I had ever seen white before. Couple that with the blazing morning sun reflecting off of this pure white canvas. It was brilliant, yet I could not gaze at it directly.

In what sense are a sinner's sins made white as snow? The fact is, sin is ugly. In and of themselves, they would certainly not be considered "white as snow." How can this term apply to sin?

I looked for an answer as I stared at the snow. It wasn't the snow so much that hurt my eyes... it was the reflection of the sun's light. That's when my mind switched. The focus was the sun & the impact the sun had when reflecting off of the snow.

In the same way, a sinner's sins are made white as snow in light of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In fact, the term "white as snow" is applied to Jesus Christ in several places (Daniel 7:9; Matthew 28:3; Revelation 1:14). This term underlies Jesus' glory, absolute purity, and perfection.

"White as snow" is applied to our sins as they are seen through the glory of Christ and his work on the cross. We are seen as perfectly blameless when the perfection & glory of Christ reflects and burns brilliant on us. We are white as snow in light of the Son of God.

In this way, God reconciles a rebellious child unto himself.

For further study, read:
Isaiah 1; 1 Peter 2; and, Romans 5

Groomsman Accountability

I have never owned a sword before. There are not many occasions I can think of that call for a sword. Even still, deep inside I think every man wants a sword- and now I have one! In fact, it was given to me this weekend as a groomsman gift.

Billy walked down the church aisle with a large, black duffle bag over his shoulder. He layed the bag down and unzipped it. Where I thought a skateboard would be lay 14 unique swords resting side by side. Instead of taking off doing a nose wheelie by the bride's grandmother, Billy distributed the swords one-by-one to his groomsmen. When he got to me, he looked me in the eyes and said, "If ever the countenance of my wife should fall- you come talk to me."

Now that's accountability!

Billy giving me a sword as his wedding gift was symbolic of the type of access that he has granted me in his life and the type of relationship we have.

Billy has intentionally allowed certain men into his life to call him and hold him to a standard. If ever he was to mess up, he's got these guys coming to him in love & looking to call him back to his senses. Whenever a guy gets on his own and out of accountability is when he's looking to sin & allows himself to slip from that standard (Proverbs 18:1).

My relationship with Billy is reciprocal. In the same way Billy expects me to call and hold him to a standard, he does the same for me. Most of the time in our relationship Billy gets to tell me what an idiot I'm being. Through rooming with Billy and brushing shoulders with him over the years, God has used him to shape me and grow me (often painfully so!) into the man he wants me to be (Proverbs 27:17).

Whether groomsman or not, the type of men a guy has in his life is a good measure of that man...
What kind of people do you have in your life?
Do they call you to a standard?