Rag Basket

DateLine (5/18/06 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

We have a place in our home where worn out dish rags, underwear, towels, and washcloths retire to. It’s not a pretty sight. We hide it in the laundry room. We’d never show it off to a guest, it stays hidden. It’s not even well organized, just a jumble of rags all stuffed in a basket. Most of them have holes or frayed edges or thin spots. They normally just sit there occupying space until. We call it the rag basket.

Fast forward to the kitchen – jar fell and it’s content splattered all over the floor. Job too big for paper towels. Quick grab me a couple of rags. Nasty job out in the garage – gotta grease up the lawn mower. How ‘bout a couple of rags? Pet’s sick – get me a box and a handful of rags to make a cozy “gurney” for the ride to the vet’s office. For these jobs we would only consider a “worthless” rag. We would never use something of value, it would be ruined. As soon as they serve their purpose, I toss them, without even a second thought. That’s what they are, rags.

The scripture records the thoughts of a person who understands how we rightfully appear to God in Isaiah 64:6, “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.” Are we all tossed into God’s rag basket? Do we just sit and wait for God to have a need for a disposable worthless piece of fabric to be used as tossed as soon as we have served His purpose? Is He ashamed of us and keeps us hidden in a dark closet so nobody will ever know that we belong to Him?

The reality is that is exactly what we deserve. We are worthy of God’s rag basket no matter how hard we may try or wish otherwise. God has every right to use us for the dirty jobs and then toss us in the garbage. As unbelievable as it may seem, He actually gives us a choice. We can live with Him as His children, knowing that we are valuable members of His family. And when He’s done with us here He ushers us into His presence in a specially prepared place in His house for eternity. Or we can choose to reject His purpose for our life, defaulting into the arms of His enemy, only to be tossed into the “rag basket” of Hell separated from Him forever.

Tossed into the rag basket, or ushered into His presence? I don’t know about you, but that’s a “no brainer.”

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9