WHITER THAN SNOW?

Melt down a bowl of snow and look for the white pigment in it. Not a speck is there. So what makes it so blindingly white that the Bible uses it as a metaphor that we should be whiter than? Look at snow in a bowl inside a totally dark room. Quick, or it will melt. No whiteness coming out of the bowl, right? It is the structure of the frozen snow that causes it to be really good at reflecting the light of the sun. We too have no “whiteness” in us. It is only as we live in the light and reflect the light coming from God and his word that we can shine light into the darkness around us.

But why white? Trees reflect sunlight and look green except in the fall, then they are orange or brown. Pumpkins reflect light, but they are yellow. The difference is that the trees and pumpkins hang onto some of the light that hits them, while the snow, bounces the light from crystal to crystal and then shoots 90% of it back into in all directions. We too are to receive, be blessed by some and pass the rest on out. Like living water, we let the life flow into us, nourish us, and then out of our bellies flows living water to all around us. John 7:38

We must let our light shine in such a way that others looking at us see God and not us. Matthew 5:16

How do we become whiter than snow? We confess our stains and ask God to purge us and wash us. The old saying is, “If you find colored snow, don’t eat it!” Also, don’t try to wash it. Once it is stained, it is stained; no cleaning it. Thank God that our stains can be washed so thoroughly that we are pure and white and able to reflect his glory and grace towards us. Psalm 51:2,7