Hey, thanks for joining me for today's devotional from the Our Daily Bread family.

Marvin Williams wrote today's devotional and titled it, God cleans the stains.

What if our clothes were more functional having the ability to clean themselves after we dropped ketchup or mustard or spilled a drink on them?

Well, according to the BBC, engineers in China have developed a special coating which causes cotton to clean itself of stains and odors when exposed to ultraviolet lights.

Can you imagine the implications of having self-cleaning clothes? A self-cleaning coating might work for stained clothes,

but only God can clean a stained soul.

In ancient Judah, God was angry with his people because they had turned their backs on him,

giving themselves to corruption and evil, and were worshipping false gods.

But to make matters worse, they tried to clean themselves by offering sacrifices,

burning incense, saying many prayers, and gathering together in solemn assemblies.

Yet their hypocritical and sinful hearts remained.

The remedy was for them to come to their senses, and with a repentant heart,

bring the stains on their souls to a holy and loving God.

His grace would cleanse them and make them spiritually

white as snow. When we sin, there's no self-cleaning solution. With a humble and repentant

heart, we must acknowledge our sins and place them under the cleansing light of God's holiness.

We must turn from them and return to Him, and He, the only one who cleans the stains of the soul, will offer us

complete forgiveness and renewed fellowship.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading comes to us from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 1, verses 10 through 18.

Hear the word of the Lord. You rulers of Sodom, listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. The multitude of your sacrifices,

what are they to me, says the Lord? I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you,

this trampling of my courts, stop bringing meaningless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me.

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