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An
Outreach Publication of the Church of Christ at
Creekwood |
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Palimpsest “Palimpsest” is not a common word, but it has an interesting
background and meaning.
Merriam Webster defines it as “writing
material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more
times after earlier writing has been erased.” In
ancient times the ink that was used to write did not
have any acid in it, so it did not “eat down” into
surfaces like papyrus or vellum on which things were
written. The
ink just lay on the surface.
Since writing materials were hard to come by, a
scribe would often scrape the ink off of old
documents, then sponge them off to remove every trace
of the ink. Many
ancient manuscripts, including manuscripts of the
Bible, have been found on these reused documents.
Such documents have a special name: They are
called “palimpsest”
which means “rubbed off.” * Observe
some lessons that can be applied to our lives from
this interesting word: Like
the precious writing materials of old, each of us is
valuable because of our Creator.
Each of us was created in the image of God
(Genesis 1:26-27). However,
due to our wrong choices, each of us has become
stained with the destructive pollution of sin (cf.
James 1:27; 2 Peter 2:20). But
here is the GOOD
NEWS: Because of His great love for us, God sent
Jesus to die on the cross so that we might be cleansed
of sin and be saved eternally (Eph 1:7)! There
is a word in Scripture that applies the idea of
palimpsest to our own lives.
The Greek word is translated “wipe
away” and “blot
out.” It
describes what God will do to our sins when we submit
our lives to Him. “Repent, then, and turn to God, When
we repent
of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), and turn to God in
trusting faith
(Acts 16:30-31), confessing
the name of Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and
being baptized
(immersed) into Christ (Acts 2:38), God forgives -- He
“WIPES OUT” – our debt of sin! What a beautiful illustration of forgiveness! God
wants to take the written record of our sin, scrape
off the writing, sponge it down and wipe it
clean with the BLOOD of
Jesus. And
He WILL-IF-
we will trust and obey Him. Won’t YOU? David
A. Sargent, Minister Church
of Christ at Creekwood * Information regarding “palimpsest” gleaned from Chris Bullard of www.BibleCourses.com To Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to:
HTML version: subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net Follow this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchzip.com Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org
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