The Ledger Independent, a daily newspaper in Maysville, Kentucky, has a mascot, Ponto the office dog. Ponto has daily words of wisdom that he imparts to subscribers of the newspaper. Here is one of Ponto’s most recent musings—“You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty.”

How true! A bath can get you clean, but not without making the water dirty. The same principle applies with a mop and a floor, a dust cloth and furniture, and so on.

Along those lines, we can’t be made clean from our sins unless Jesus takes them upon himself.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”—Isaiah 53:5.