filthy rags...

Isaiah 64: 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways.

But you have been very angry with us,for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.

8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.9 Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.

I guess any time I get to feeling too full of myself.. I can read this scripture for a reality check..

if I think about how far I have come from where I used to be.. I am looking pretty darn good! I have cleaned up pretty well.. I don't do the things I used to do.. I don't go the places I used to go... I look pretty good!

and I can look at someone else.. who has not done a 180.. maybe they have done a 90 degree turn instead... and I can see that I have come so much further than them... and that is judging... that is deciding where someone else should be in comparison to what I am... who am I in comparision with Christ?? because that is the true comparison... God says that all of my righteous acts are as filthy rags... I act as though my actions or walk makes me righteous...

no... righteousness comes only from God above.. from being covered in the cleansing blood of Christ...

we are all sinful and as filthy rags... we all need to be asking forgiveness daily.. because compared to Christ.. none of us look any too good... one of the things that bother me about new age preaching is the lack of confession of sin that is preached... I agree that God knows us.. He knows all of our rights and all of our wrongs.. He knows our words before they come out of our mouth... does that mean He is all right with it? I don't think so.. I think that daily we need to ask forgiveness so there is no sin between us and God.. every one of us... no one excluded... so even though Christ loves us.. and He does!.. we still need to recognize His righteousness and our lack of it.. and strive toward it.. yet asking forgiveness along the way.. so the lines of communication are open between us and Him...