Many of us remember the days of chalkboards in the classroom. First there were blackboards and white chalk. Then there were greenboards and yellow chalk. The last time I taught there was a whiteboard on which I wrote with erasable markers.
One thing all these writing surfaces had in common was an eraser. A privilege in elementary school was being chosen to clean the blackboard erasers. You went outside and pounded them together or against a hard surface (the school building?) to remove the chalk dust.
Chalkboards and other writing surfaces come with erasers. Computers have a delete button and a backspace when emailing. Cell phones have a clear all and an x button when texting. Pencils have erasers. There is even erasable ink.
We all make mistakes. The Pope in “An Essay on Criticism” said, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Since none of us can claim divinity, all of us are prone to error. Thus we can be grateful for erasers.
On a more serious note, there is what is called sin. Even the famed psychiatrist, Karl Menninger says so. In his book “Whatever Became of Sin”, he says we have subscribed it under a number of verbal artifacts. Similarly George Sweazy says “Modern man has dropped the word ‘sin’ from his vocabulary—and so the world is perishing of a disease without a name (Effective Evangelism, Pg. 29).” The Bible speaks of sin. It says it is universal (“All have sinned….”, Romans 3:23, KJV). No exemptions. It also says it is destructive (“The wages of sin is death….”, Ro. 6:23, KJV). No good ever comes of it. Fortunately sin does not write with indelible ink. God has the eraser. It is called forgiveness (“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us….”, I John 1:9, KJV. The first stanza of Horatio Bonar’s grand old hymn, “I Lay My Sins on Jesus” puts it this way
“I lay my sins on Jesus, The spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us from the accursed, I bring my guilt to Jesus, To wash my crimson stains White in His blood most precious, Till not a stain remains.” –The Baptist Hymnal, #272
I have used erasers. Some erase clean, others smear or leave a residue. God’s eraser erases cleanly, and that’s a feature I especially like.

– Dr. Darryl E. Maxwell, Retired Baptist Patsor