Dirty Rags

One of the most scary things about learning to drive as a teenager was when the Drivers Ed Instructor took us downtown. Besides all of the congestion and the fear that he would make us parallel park in a tight spot there was the abundance of one way streets. He even told us about how to tell if it is a one way street. Now most people would probably think that everything is labeled but that isn’t necessarily so. What if you came to a one way street where there was a yield or a stop sign? You might not realize it is one way and attempt to turn if you knew you needed to go that way. One of the first things he told us is that all of the cars on both sides of the road would be parked in the same direction. You can’t always see traffic only going one way. What if there isn’t any traffic on the road at the moment you want to turn?

I’ll bet you that once or twice in your lifetime you have turned the wrong way on a one way street. I have and it doesn’t take long until I realized I was dead wrong. It is horrifying to be in that situation. I remember a few years ago a guy who went to my high school and was a year or two younger than me tried to get on the highway on the exit ramp. Before he realized that he was dead wrong he was hit head on and killed. Fortunately for me the two times I accidentally got on a one way street going the wrong way I quickly saw what happened and was able to get off in a hurry! The question is bound to come up. Why do we need all of the one way streets anyway? They can be very inconvenient at a time when we realize we need to go in a certain direction only to be blocked by a one way street. I don’t have an answer but I do know you can’t fight City Hall. If the road is one way we must drive accordingly even if we don’t like the law.

Good parents will teach their kids to love and fear God and walk in the way of righteousness. These principles can help when life’s problems come crashing down on them later. However many times the kids rebel. They want to carve out their own path and start disregarding the good foundation their parents planted in them. They start hanging around with the wrong people and when loving parents question their associations they get upset and do the opposite of what they were taught. All we can do as parents is lay that foundation down. Rebellion can be traced back as far as Adam and Eve. God told them that they could eat from any of the trees except for one. It wasn’t confusing and they understood precisely what he meant. It wasn’t like the missing road sign on a one way street. Yet even with this precise command God never took away their will to choose. When the Serpent came and tempted them and started making them doubt God they did what God told them not to do. They ate from the forbidden tree and that original sin contaminated the human race.

It is so interesting if you ask people what they think a Christian is? I have asked this question and found the answer is all over the map. “Someone who goes to church”, or Someone who believes in God”, they might say. Here are other answers that come up “Someone who lives by the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” “Someone who follows the 10 commandments.” The list goes on and on but once in awhile you might hear the right answer. “Someone who has been saved by grace.” Jesus made it crystal clear in his teachings how to get to Heaven. “Ye must be born again” he answered an inquisitive Nicodemus who was a religious leader of the time. Nicodemus was confused and took what Jesus said into the physical sense. Jesus explained that it is a rebirth of the spirit and it is a must. Jesus stated on another occasion that “I am the way the truth and the life. Nobody gets to the father except by me.” John 14:6 Throughout his ministry Jesus was rebelled against. His absolutes in a world of man’s thinking was not a big hit to most. They plotted to kill him because he told them things they didn’t want to hear. He also made the illustration of the road to heaven. ¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it….Matthew 7:14.

Have you ever tried to clean something with a dirty rag? You will find that whatever you are cleaning actually becomes more dirty. That is how God looks at our good deeds when we do them on our own. Many people think that good works will get us to heaven. Good works though is a product of a clean heart. A heart that has been given to service to our God. The world judges people on their good deeds but God judges on if they have accepted his son. In Isaiah it states that God looks at our good deeds done alone as dirty rags. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep …Isaiah 64:6.

Jesus was crucified because he spoke the truth but people didn’t want to hear it. They wanted to make their own rules and do their own thing. I have heard people imply that there are many ways to heaven and many paths to get there. That is contrary to Jesus’ teaching. I have heard that many different philosophers and religions offer words of wisdom to live by. There has been many who have given good advice to live by but did anyone but Jesus actually die for us? Did any of these religious leaders rise from the dead? Jesus’ tomb is empty unlike any of the founders of other religions. The key to Christianity has never been following the rules with head knowledge. It is not something that we have to suffer to obey. The rules are followed because it is heart knowledge and becomes what we want to do to please God. There is no suffering involved. We don’t have to try to keep the 10 commandments or the golden rule. We naturally will with our heart in place. When our Spirit is right our actions are right and we are on the right path! There is only one path and it is narrow but there is room for all of us on it! Jesus’ clean cloth of righteousness will clean us up where dirty rags will not.

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