Today in Sunday school the teacher was emphasizing that we can’t change ourselves. Only God can change us.

And of course (hey it’s my season) I immediately thought of diaper changes.

And it’s a pretty good comparison. Every analogy falls apart somewhere, but this one made me think a while.

Little babies can’t change their own diapers (I don’t care how brilliant they are. It ain’t happenin’). And require this outside “interference” in their day to keep them sanitary.

And for those of you get squeamish when you start thinking about that *really* GROSS stuff you can find in a baby diaper: black, tar-like meconium, mustard-yellow runny stuff (that can make for a great/bad joke with a deli sandwich) diarrhea that escapes the diaper and sticks to everything else and— Amy Jane are you trying to gross-out everyone who actually reads these words?

Actually, yeah. Only I didn’t expect it to be that effective with my readers.

The point is that I hope to suggest the response God has to our sin.

Our disgust at the grossest (I’ll quit trying to describe it) diaper blow-out you can imagine is nothing compared to the response of our Holy God to the filth of our sin.

We wrinkle our noses, touch as little as possible, generate extra trash, and discuss with anybody (or nobody) present about what we’ll have to do to get that clean.

And Sin isn’t something we can get clean.

Is there pure lying? Is there cleaned-up covetousness? Is there acceptable adultery?

That all these have been excused by somebody doesn’t mean God cleared them.

He can’t stand these things.

~ ~ ~

So, for those of you at the diaper-changing stage of life, the next time you get a “package” that curls your toes, I hope you thank God for His perfect sacrifice, that made it possible for him to look on us, and change us, to be more like him.

And if we’re not there, maybe we should ask to be “potty-trained,” if you will, to treat sin with the disgust it deserves.  (Hey, I already said the analogy has to break-down somewhere.)