What To Do With My Filthy Rags… Good morning on this weekend of storms, high winds, snow, sleet, and pretty much a lot of doom! What a winter and even here in Phoenix it is one of the coldest and longest on record. The ski hills are blanketed and waiting for skiers but they can’t get up there as roads are closed, and the winds are too high for ski lifts. I love the one weather person on CBS who put this snow in perspective when she said “it’s beautiful white snow and it covers all the ugly stuff.” That reminds of the Maranatha song, “White As Snow” where the love of God covers up our filthy rags in Christ’s forgiveness.

Then I read my Smithsonian magazine which was going back in time about how paper was made. Trust me, I read this stuff because I find it interesting and sometimes, you get to know about it too—in a devotion! They had a short story of a man who was touring a paper factory in England that was world-renown for its paper. During the tour, he stopped in his tracks and said “why are all these filthy rages laying here, I would have thought better of this company.” The owner replied, “Well, sir, you said you like our paper and wanted to see how we make it, right?” The man nodded, and the owner said “You won’t get the paper you are accustomed to having without these rags.” Then he went on to explain how paper uses cotton fibers, etc. hoping to not lose a customer yet wanting him to realize that this infusion of rags was necessary. The man seemed to understand but he quietly said “you may think of putting these in another place where people like me won’t see them, it is kind of disturbing.” When he left, he did give an order which he received a few weeks later. On the top of the bundled paper was a clipped note “Dirty Rags Transformed.” The story didn’t tell us if the man had any feedback on the clipped note but I think he got the message.

It’s a message for us, too. There are days when we wish we were transported somewhere else or transformed into someone else! We look in the mirror and decide we’ll cut our own hair-hmmm, I’ll dye my hair it’s cheaper-hmmm, I’ll fix that dishwasher/car/motorcycle/etc, myself and save money-hmmm. Then you wished you had that “Transformation Button” to reverse the outcome of your handiwork!

Our Christian life is the same as well. We sin, we try to cover it up or explain it away, but the deed is done and reversing the outcome isn’t possible. What do we do? Some people deny asking God for help and forgiveness. I have a friend who, when I would ask them have you prayed to God for help, would answer this is too trivial to invite the Almighty. Sin is never trivial and the consequences can be difficult and like snow, you can cover it for a bit but then the snow melts and the ‘ugly’ comes right back at you.

Eugene Peterson’s Message Bible translation of King David’s Psalm 51, verse 7 really brings it close to our thoughts of trivial, but these words are anything but trivial! “Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.”

I had to laugh when writing this because washing out my mouth with soap happened now and then when I was a kid! Unlike David’s words, I didn’t feel clean at all, it tasted terrible! But as we get older, we can laugh because we know behind that discipline was a loving parent that wanted us to live a godly life. Soap may not have “transformed us” just then but it stayed with us and helped us to avoid the traps of sin in our lives.

We all have our filthy rags and we can turn to Isaiah 61:10 for this assurance of forgiveness and transformation. Using the Voice translation which is so accurate when using the Hebrew to English, it says:

“I am filled with joy and
my soul vibrates with exuberant hope,
because of the Eternal my God.
For He has dressed me with the garment of salvation
and wrapped me with the robe of righteousness.”

There isn’t a day that goes by where we wish we could go back and transform a day that didn’t go our way, but our better choice is to repent, and embrace the transformation that Jesus is waiting to give us. Like making beautiful paper with filthy rags, it is a process, so don’t get discouraged. When Jesus starts a work in us, he will always finish it…and what Jesus does is always perfect. AMEN.