Several months back, I was working on some t-shirts and ended up printing them backwards. The purpose was for folks to actually wear them…but now they have new purpose as rags around the house. Eighty. Dollar. Rags.
Story of my life.
Today I am staining some planters that my husband built me a couple of years ago and using these messed up shirts to wipe off stain after I brush it on. In this hot, humid SC air, wiping down wood with this “expensive t-shirt rag” displaying the words “Love like Jesus” printed on them backwards, God spoke to my heart.
I’ve got a mess out here. Stain splattered all over my legs and the pieces of foam protecting the porch. I know everybody else has their own messes, too. For years, I spent a lot of time trying to clean up my life on my own terms, instead of just relying on Jesus to wipe the mess away. Now, my sin-stained life is forgotten because Jesus wiped it away on the cross. He cleaned up the backwards mess that was me and gave me new life and a new purpose…just like my t-shirt turned rag.
Thank you, Lord.
His love is unending.
Our love should be, too. If we are going to love like Jesus, we cannot smear the stains of other people all around…but just love them completely and point them to the one who wants nothing more than to wipe away their mess. That’s loving like Jesus. It’s not our job to clean them up…all our righteousnesses is but filthy rags.
His love cost Him everything.
A whole lot more than eighty dollars.
I just want to soak up all He has for me. I don’t want to ever lose sight of what a mess I was before Jesus came in and wiped away the stains. I don’t want to ever miss an opportunity to show Jesus and His love to someone who wears stains in their life that they don’t know how to wipe clean.
Honestly, I want that to be the story of my life.
