I see a lot of potential in young people these days. But as wonderful as potential is, it’s really nothing if it never happens. To be worth anything, potential has to become reality.
Isaiah 1:18 is a great verse. In it, God offers to the sinner an amazing potential. Isaiah writes, “Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be as wool.” Now God says that Israel’s sins are as scarlet. They are red like crimson. That’s what their condition already is. But then God goes on to say that cleansing is available as a future possibility. “They will be as white as snow.” That’s potential.
The word “will be” is the simple Hebrew word hayah – “to be,” and it is in a form of the verb that expresses incomplete action. That simply means it hasn’t happened yet.
In fact, as you read on in Isaiah 1, God says that the cleansing wouldn’t happen unless they responded positively to Him. Actually Israel could respond in one of two ways: In verse 19, God says, “If you are willing and obedient.” Then in verse 20, He says, “But if you refuse and rebel…” The point here is that it is possible for the people to be made white as snow – as white as wool – if they are willing to come to Him.
Have you ever known someone with a lot of potential who squandered the opportunity and ended up a loser? It’s sad, isn’t it? Well, that’s what happened to Israel. They chose to refuse, and to rebel – and they lost what could have been. But the good news is that God still offers to make people “white as snow,” if they will come to Him for salvation. You see, it’s still possible for potential to become reality, for you.
Hey – don’t be a loser. Accept God’s offer of salvation. You, too, will be as “white as snow!”