For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. – 2 Corinthians 5:21, King James Version (KJV)

Our church utilizes a program called Kids4Truth for our Wednesday night children’s ministry. The following story comes from one of their outstanding lessons on the nature and character of Jesus Christ:

One day at a church picnic, two intelligent young seminary graduates were asking an old farmer about His relationship with God. They glanced at one another and grinned as the farmer seemed to search for the right words to say. After a long pause, the farmer replied, “Well, fellas, it’s kind of like this. My boots get mighty dirty after a hard day’s work. I can’t wear them in the house, for sure. I’d have to stay outside if I kept them on. What Jesus does, you see, is He pulls those old, dirty boots off of me. He takes them, and He puts them on Himself. But He doesn’t stop there. He gives me His own brand new, spotless shoes to wear inside. So, between me and God it’s sort of like that – like Jesus standing in my shoes and me standing in His.”

The farmer’s metaphor is a perfect illustration of what God (through Paul) is telling us in 2 Corinthians 5:21. At the moment we asked Christ to save us, He took all of our dirt upon Himself. In exchange, He gave us His purity. We didn’t earn that purity, nor could we. We simply accepted His free gift of clean shoes. It is because of His free gift that we can enter His house, and it is because of the dirt we gave Him that He had to suffer so horribly on the cross.

The Gospel is so simple, yet it is so powerful! Never take its miraculous simplicity for granted, and never cease to thank Christ for taking all of your dirt in exchange for all of His holiness. You and I DEFINITELY got the better end of that deal!

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