When I was in elementary school my favorite thing in the world was to go to the school store. Every morning before school started we could go to the library where they sold anything from gel pens to neon pencil sharpeners. However, my favorite thing were these giant, glitter erasers. I thought these erasers were the coolest thing. I would save up my quarters from the chores I did just so I could buy these glitter erasers. My favorite one was this hot pink glitter one I bought. I showed it off to everyone because it was 75 cents instead of 50. I thought I was such big spender.
I am weird; everyone knows this, but let me just reiterate: I fully embrace my weird side because God made me this way. One weird thing about me is that I’m fascinated by the idea of an eraser. We can draw or write something and if it doesn’t meet our expectation we have the power to get rid of it. If something doesn’t look right or we feel like we can draw something better or we get a new idea we can use the same piece of paper and erase the old thing. That pink eraser made me feel powerful because I could always get rid of the old to make something better - it was like my weapon.
I was sitting here the other day thinking of that eraser and the idea of getting rid of the old to make room for the new when I realized that Jesus was God’s glittery, pink eraser. Jesus erased our sins so we could start new again, he got rid of the unwanted so that there will be room for better. Every day God erases our sin so that we will have a clean sheet of paper in the morning. Every morning his mercies are made new again because our sins are erased. God went to the school store and could have picked out anything for himself but he decided to get something to use for good. He used His quarters to save us. How awesome is it that we have new opportunities every day? If we dislike our old sinful self we can always start new again. That’s all because of God’s glittery, pink eraser.
The cool thing about this that we tend to overlook is the paper that is being used during the erasing. We draw and mark up all over that piece of paper and at the end of the day its still paper. It can still be used. NO MATTER WHAT CONDITION THE PAPER IS IN IT CAN STILL BE USED. The paper is our life and the thing being erased is our sin. After a while we may have some tears in us, we may be crumpled but we can still be used to be made new. Paper is always able to be written on, we are always able to be made new.
Think about this, paper can be used in any form. Paper can be recycled and made new into something else. God can use us for so many things, we are never out of reach or unusable. God can erase our sins then recycle us for a better purpose. We aren’t ever trapped in our life; we have so many opportunities to be made new.
Let’s practice something: get a piece of paper and ball it up, tear it, and make it ugly. Then, grab a pencil and write down all your sins, everything that is weighing you down or you feel has a stronghold on your life. Now pick up an eraser, (it doesn’t have to be pink), and begin to erase. As you erase think about how God is doing this in your life every night. See that no matter what state that piece of paper is in you can still write on it and the eraser will still erase it. See visually what God does for us. Don’t ever feel like your life can’t be used - all paper can be recycled.