” ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord.” – Isaiah 1:18
On February 3, 1998, Karla Faye Tucker was the first woman since the Civil War to be executed in the Texas prison system. After taking drugs non-stop for three days in 1983, Karla and her partner broke into a Houston apartment and killed two people. However, during her 14 years on death row, Karla learned that God loves even the vilest sinner and that He pardons every person who asks Him for forgiveness. A month before her execution she said, “I asked God to forgive me and I knew I needed forgiveness. And I knew I had done something really horrible. But I think right at that moment what mostly hit me was His love. His love. It just surrounded me.”
The murderer became a child of God. Although Karla would never again step outside that prison, she was truly free. And before Karla reaped the consequences for her crime, she influenced many people by sharing her testimony over radio and television. She was an example to the world that no one can commit a sin so bad that God cannot forgive.
Scarlet, or crimson, is the color of a deep-red permanent dye that leaves a stain that can be impossible to remove from clothing. The stain of sin seems equally permanent. Yet Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and shed His crimson blood so that God could forgive every sin. So remember that no sin is too great to be forgiven. Ask the Holy Spirit to surround you with His love. And pray that America would repent and embrace His forgiveness.
Today’s Verse: Isaiah 1:18
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Psalm 51:1-14
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of
your righteousness.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
