I ran across this quote in the internet recently, and it caught my attention.
Imbesi’s Law Of The Conservation Of Filth: In Order For Something To Become Clean, Something Else Must Become Dirty.
I’m not sure who Imbesi is or why he would want to conserve filth. However, as I went throughout my week last week, I found this law to be true. As you wash dishes, the sink gets dirty. As you clean the sink, the rag used to clean the sink gets dirty. We recently we washed a rug at my in-laws house (which resulted in a clean rug) but created a big mess of tiny rubber particles from the rug that were left everywhere that had to be cleaned.
Then I thought about how this rule relates to our lives. We are all unclean because we are imperfect people and we fall short of the glory of God because of our sin (Rom. 3:23). Even our best falls short and shows that we are unclean before a holy God. Isaiah 64:6 says “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
In order for us to be clean, Jesus had to become dirty. 2 Cor. 5:21 says “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ took on the sin of the world so that we could be clean. There are many scriptures that speak to God cleansing us from sin: Psalm 51:2, Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:25, Heb. 10:22, and many others. Perhaps my favorite is 1 John 1:9 which says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This week, as we celebrate the final days before Christ’s crucifixion, his death, burial and resurrection, let’s be thankful for the cleansing work of Christ, that we who were dirty could be clean.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
It’s definitely true for me that whenever I clean I always seem to make a bigger mess in the process. I remember when I was young my mom checking my progress on a room cleaning day and she would always be surprised at just how much more messier it was before I had begun. In terms of recognizing the mess of the world and how Jesus died on the cross to cleanse the world and wipe away the mess of sin by himself having such a dirty death is just an amazing sacrifice that I can’t comprehend sometimes. JESUS was the only one who was completely free of sin and yet he suffered the most. It’s an amazing picture of Christ’s selfless love towards us. Great Post!
That’s a very interesting, yet true law by Imbesi. It does a decent job of representing how Christ had to become dirty in order to make us clean, but it could never compare to the grime of the sin of all mankind. I am not a huge fan of cleaning things, and I don’t particularly enjoy being/feeling dirty. But I’m grateful that Christ is able to make us clean by washing away our sins and creating a clean heart within us. Taking the time to reflect on this really does make those lyrics all the more meaningful. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can ever make us clean and complete.
I love this image you described! It is so easy for us to feel like our abilities, actions, or circumstances are what determine our holiness in God’s eyes. These passages are a great reminder that none of these occurrences are our doing, but everything is because of God. I think it is difficult to believe this, but when God humbles us, it is such a sweet reminder, even when we feel shame! Knowing that we are dirty, sinful, and broken should make us all the more joyful and grateful that we have a God who made us clean and sees us as holy because of our relationship with Him. I think looking across religions, this is the aspect that makes Christianity so sweet, that it is nothing we do or have done or can do to earn God’s favor, but he loves us unconditionally.
Praise God!