This past Saturday I spent the majority of the morning pressure-washing my home. Between the dirt and the mildew that are inevitable in this part of the world, it was badly needed.

But I have to tell you something. I really had no idea how dirty the house was. I was planning to do just one side because I am installing an awning over a door. But once the one side was clean, I could see how dirty the rest of the house was. It was embarrassing. I could not leave it alone.

I am immediately reminded of something that is far truer than most of us realize. The Bible says this, but not a lot of people (even Christians) understand it as they should. Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” The Apostle Paul quoted the psalmist when he wrote, “There is none righteous, no not one.”

Here’s what those verses mean. They remind us that we are sinners and that none of us is what we ought to be. I have often said that this does not mean that we are as bad as we could be, but it does mean that we are not as good as we should be.

In our culture and society, that is not a message that resonates with many. Most people will quickly claim, “I’m a good person.” But the Bible says otherwise. It reminds us that we all go our own way and that we need help.

The prophet Isaiah said of himself, his family and friends, “I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” We are all sinners, and when the dirt in one spot is removed, it exposes how dirty we are in other spots, just like at my house on Saturday.

So, what is the remedy? There is really only one. The perfect Man, Jesus, the Son of God, lived a sinless life. And then, because of his great love for us, he gave that life as a sacrifice for you and me. When we trust in him, our sins are treated as if they were never committed. They are forgiven, removed as far from us as the east is from the west. Have you experienced that forgiveness? I pray that you will turn to the only One who loves you enough to forgive your sin.