Calendar

 How many of you have a calendar hanging up in your house? Calendars have many uses, don't they? We use calendars to mark time. We keep track of fun things like holidays, and not so fun things like doctor's appointments and then there's the dentist. We sched­ule vacations on a holiday, and birthdays. What else do we do with calendars? 

A calendar is a very valuable tool, isn't it? But there's a problem with this calendar. This calendar is out of date. It's old, isn't it? And an expired calendar is really no good. Why? Because the dates in this calendar have already happened. It's in the past. 

You know, this calendar reminds me of my own past. There are times in my life I wish I could forget, times when I sinned or made mistakes. If this calendar held a record of the mistakes I made this year, I'd be embarrassed to show it to you. I bet all of you would say the same. 

But here's the thing about calendars. They usually go on sale in the autumn, when the schools start up again, in anticipation of the new year. But once the new year comes, what happens? People mark the calendars down by fifty percent off, and sometimes seventy-five off Eventually, any calendars that don't sell get thrown away. Why? Because they're expired.  No one would think of keeping an expired calendar in their house. But many times we keep the memo­ries of our past mistakes and sins, don't we? 

But we don't have to if we believe in Jesus. You know why? The Bible says when we are saved, Jesus takes our sins away. Psalm 103: 12 says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." 

So let's remember what the calendar has to teach us. The mistakes of the past don't need to stay with us today. Give your mistakes and your sins to Jesus, and he will take them away, just like an expired calendar.