Verse:
“Those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
— Galatians 6:8b–9 (NLT)
Devotional Thought:
When I worked at Boeing in the late ’90s, someone smashed a ketchup cup high onto a stairwell wall. It hit with force, splattered, and—thanks to the sticky ketchup—stuck. It stayed there for over two weeks. Eventually, someone scrawled with a Sharpie next to it, writing an arrow pointing up saying: “Level 3 Maintenance – ******* Clean This Now.”
A few days later the ketchup was cleaned up. Even after the ketchup was finally scraped off, the Sharpie words remained… until the whole area was repainted. Only then did the wall look clean again.
And honestly? That ketchup cup reminds me a lot of sin and shame.
Sometimes in life, we make a mess—either through poor decisions or just being caught in the splash zone of someone else’s. The “stains” don’t always come out right away. Some hang around longer than we want. Others seem like they’ll always be visible, especially when people leave arrows pointing at our failure.
But God doesn’t just scrape away the visible mess. He goes deeper. He restores—completely. He paints over what we thought would be permanent. What others saw as defining moments of shame, He covers in grace.
If you’re feeling stuck—if your past still seems like it’s marked with stains—remember this: God’s mercy is greater than your mess. His Spirit doesn’t just clean up what others see… He renews what you can’t. So don’t give up doing good, even if the old stains still seem visible. In due time, healing and blessing will come.
Reflection Questions:
– Is there a “stain” from your past that still feels visible, even though you’ve moved on?
– Have you ever judged someone else based on what they haven’t cleaned up yet?
– What does it look like to allow the Spirit to fully restore—not just surface clean?
Prayer:
God, You see the messes I’ve made—the ones others know about, and the ones only You and I carry. Sometimes I still feel stuck to the wall, labeled and marked by my failures. But You don’t leave me there. You don’t just scrape off the surface—you renew my heart.
Help me trust that the stains of my past do not define my future. Remind me that You’re not keeping score or pointing arrows at my worst moments. You’re painting over them in grace. And Lord, when I see others caught in their messes, help me not to grab a Sharpie of judgment, but instead extend the same mercy You’ve shown me.
Give me strength to keep walking in the Spirit, doing good even when I feel discouraged. Thank You that Your timing is perfect and that Your restoration is complete. Amen.
Related Verses:
– Isaiah 1:18 – “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”
– Psalm 103:12 – “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”
– 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us…”
– Galatians 6:1 – “Gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path…”
– Romans 8:1 – “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”