Filthy Beauty

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64: 6)

There are two verses anyone involved in evangelism knows and may have memorized very early in their evangelism training. One is at the beginning of Isaiah and the other is towards the end; the verse above.

We have always used them to plead with people to respond to our call to receive Christ.

But today I want to add another dimension to these very famous verses by starting with the statement that probably they are more indicative of the rebellious heart than they are of a seeking one.

The verse above seeks to show a person who is seeking to please God, unless righteousness does not mean seeking to live right in God’s sight.

It shows someone who is trying their best.

Why then does all that effort receive such a negative response from the One they seek to please?

I dare say it is because it is being done with the heart in the wrong place.

Explain. I know someone is shouting.

I will start with children.

Why do we call children sweet little rascals?

It is because of their innocence. We know that they are very genuine in their trying to please us, even if it means putting sugar into our food and salt in our tea.

Simply said, we are sure their heart was in the right place. That their effort was as genuine as genuineness itself.

How would we feel if our spouse did what our toddler did so wrong yet we smiled, even appreciated?

The difference is what the verse is addressing.

And that is why I want to get us back to our study of rebellion.

Isaiah 1: 19 and 20 are addressing the same topic. And I refer to it because we so love verse 18.

Verse 19 mentions two words; willing and obedient while verse 20 mentions two words; refuse and rebel.

The first two words actualize verse 18 while the second two words negate it.

Allow me to explain.

God has called us for a dialogue. But it is not much of one because the papers are ready to be signed. It is like being called to write a statement when all that is required is for you to sign it.

There are actually two choices. Will you sign it or not?

That is the condition set in that reasoning together.

Will we allow God to deal with our sins or not? Will we surrender our attempts at dealing with our sins completely or will we continue attempting to deal with them?

The willing and obedient surrender their attempts and justification for their sins to God who then makes them white as snow.

The rebellious continue cleaning themselves up with the notion that God will be compelled to favorably respond and recognize their effort.

That is what the verse above is talking about.

Their feeble attempts at righteousness, however gigantic it might seem to them, is really worse than if they had not attempted at all just as filthy rags are far worse than dirty clothes.

In my earlier writeups about rebellion, I had indicated that rebellion is not refusal of acknowledging wrongdoing or sin. It is explaining it away and seeking justification for the same.

Second is that it is rushing to correct the sin instead of allowing God to deal with it.

Third is wanting God to allow you to set the conditions of your reconciliation.

We saw that very clearly in our study of Saul, the first king of Israel, and Balaam, the prophet turned soothsayer.

You will realise that Saul’s last effort at getting any word from God was so desperate that he sought the intervention of an enemy of the same God to get. This is the filthy rags we are addressing. Yet the result was the same; God rejected you and so you remain rejected.

You see, we can not serve God on terms that are not His. We cannot follow God’s rules on our terms. We cannot please Him on our terms.

Yet this is what we are seeing in this verse.

Someone is seeking to please God on terms that are not God’s.

No wonder it is worse than not even trying.

But that is what rebellion continues to do.

Let us even look at human relationships.

I will condense and paraphrase an ancient story I posted some time ago titled Nka, Nka, Nkauga.

Two siblings are playing when one accidentally breaks an old and treasured item in the house.

He seeks to hide but the other sees that as his chance, threatening to tell their father unless ….

From that point, the offender becomes the slave of the witness; giving the best food and going for the most difficult errands so that the other does not tell.

Eventually he gets tired. He has lost so much weight because the sibling gets to eat all the best food even as he does the most tedious tasks. Sadly, he can’t tell his father why he is losing so much weight or is doing all the jobs around the home.

He decided to die and confesses to his father, only to be surprised to know that his father had known all along and was only waiting for that confession.

The only problem is that most rebels would rather die than confess. And the two suicides we see in the Bible; Ahithophel and Judas, are a testimony to this.

The reality is that only repentance has the capacity to deal with sin, either against God or people.

Trying to cover up sin with good deeds, instead of softening the heart of the offended, actually amplify our sin in the eyes of the offended.

You see, we do not set the rules for forgiveness when we offend. That is why even in courts people plead for the mercy of the court after their conviction.

Only the offended knows the weight of the offense and so can accurately or fairly set the rules for his acceptance.

The only thing the offender knows is that he is guilty. He has no idea as to the depth of his offense.

That is why I so love David.

Never once do we see him explaining his sins away. Never do we see him transferring or sharing the sin with anyone else even when the sin involved others. Never once do we see him trying to soften or share the sentence passed for his sin.

The only thing we see him doing is pleading for mercy. No wonder God also loved him.

Remember him asking God to spare Israel and deal only with him when he had ordered a census!

But we see the complete opposite with his predecessor who was always blaming someone else for his wrongs. There was someone or somebody who was also responsible for his sin.

At one time it was Samuel coming a wee little later than he said. Another time it was the army that wanted to sacrifice what was supposed to be destroyed. Another time it was the priests who were plotting with David ad infinitum.

The reality is that our effort at pleasing the one we have offended, be it God or people, stinks to high heavens because we want to assume that our effort to please will delete our offense from the memory of the offended.

We assume that grown ups are like children who will forget the hiding they have received or toy they have been denied because they have been given a treat, sometimes only a very cheap sweet (candy). We assume that God is also like that.

But that is not true at all.

That is why David was forgiven and Saul was damned. That is why Peter was forgiven and Judas was damned. That is why one thief on the cross was forgiven and the other damned.

My effort stinks before God. My repentance pleases God so that He can completely forgive and forget the sin.

Incidentally, it is the same with relationships.

Nothing you do to the offended can reverse the offense. No price can be paid to exterminate the memories of the offense. No effort can assuage the mistrust the offense created.

That is why only the falling down in repentance praying for mercy can offer another chance. And it is the offended who gives that second chance, and not because of the pleading of the offender.

What am I saying?

Have you offended someone? Have you broken the trust of someone who loves you? (I am saying who loves you because you couldn’t have loved them when you broke their trust).

Have you sinned against God? Have you broken your vows to Him? Have you lost your passion for Him? Has your love for Him waned?

Break before them. Do not try to revive something that you killed. Do not attempt to light a fire that you extinguished.

Joining all the ministries of the church has no capacity to cover your sin. Giving everything you have has no capacity of dealing with your sin, either before God or the one you have offended. It is like those acts addressed in 1 Corinthians 13.

It will never work. Your effort will be like filthy rags even as you think you are wearing your best. You will be like Adam with those leaves covering his nakedness. No wonder he hid from God because he realized how flimsy his effort was.

Allow the one you have offended (be it God or man) to decide whether they will dress (cover) you. Allow them to decide whether they will accept you. And allow them to set the terms for that reconciliation.

Please keep quiet and allow them to slowly go through your offense. They are hurting far worse than you are because they trusted an untrustworthy person; you.

Walk out if they decide to kick you out of their life since you are the one who walked out anyway.

It is only their mercy you seek and not their understanding.

I hope I am being understood.