Filthy Rags

Why do we stop short of the incredible vision of radiant, set-apart feminity He desires to showcase in and through our lives? Because we don't truly grasp our utter helplessness; our absolute desperate need for all that He is. We don't understand that apart from Him, we have nothing, we are nothing, we can accomplish nothing. We are still looking within ourselves to find beauty and strength that can come only from Him.

We don't possess anything beautiful or worthwhile in and of ourselves. "We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6

"If a soul has any beauty, it is because Christ has endowed that sould with His own, for in ourselves we are deformed and defiled! There is no beauty in any of us but what our Lord has worked in us." (Charles Spurgeon) We are unworthy. Our souls are dirty. True repentance starts by acknowleding those facts. We are defiled and tainted. We are utterly unfit to bear His name. But it's not about our worthiness. It's about His.

The God of the universe, the Author of all that is good and lovely, passed by me and saw me in my wretched, hopeless condition. He was not attracted to my beauty or goodness because I had none. I had absolutely nothing to offer Him. I was ugly and helpless, drowning in the blood of my own guilt and condemnation.

Only he can trasform that into something of beauty.