Welcome! I’m midway through my 31 Days series and am combining with five-minute Friday. We’re tackling the hard truth about laundry.
It piles up quickly. The dirty clothes, socks, undergarments, linens. Some materials make items a one-time wear only. Other materials can be worn a few times lightly before laundering. It doesn’t take much to make it to the hamper. A stain here, a drop there. A splotch here or an unsuccessful dab there. The tip of an ink pen, the slosh of half your coffee mug. Into the pile it goes. Some items are highly stinky, particularly for those partial to perspiring. Yet a lightly soiled item mixed into the dirty pile becomes just as unclean.
Sorta like me. My dirty laundry piles up much too quickly. There are times I try to catch up, but can’t stay on top of this chore. My heart, my mind, my tongue—they all get dirty when left unattended and unguarded. The biggest stain of all? Self. When I put myself first and disregard all else, the laundry tends to pile high. Suddenly it’s easy to launch an unkind verbal retort. Should I manage to control my tongue, then my mind runs away with all the millions of other ways I could be putting someone in their ‘rightful’ place. My heart? Becomes tainted as I temporarily forget that you, like me, are God’s child too and I wrestle between tender compassion and angry passion.
But God!
He is the ultimate laundry master! Our God knows all about stains, splotches, drops and tears. He specializes in cleaning us up. Our righteousness is like grease-stained rags (Isa 64:6, MSG). They’re not easily launderable. It takes an expert to clean us up. After we shred every piece of clothing, and are left bare and vulnerable before Him, He covers us with His robe of righteousness. Not a cover up, but a new garment. We’re bedecked and bedazzled in a tasteful, regal and non-gaudy way.
A jeweled tiara (Isa 61:10, MSG) is a perfect reminder of my laundry master King.
