Beautiful Exchange
August 16, 2024
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
Would you like to trade in your old clothes of sin and shame for new garments of salvation?
We may believe that we are good people who do bad things sometimes. But the prophet Isaiah describes a different reality: sin defiles the soul. Sin is dirty and filthy, and sin kills your heart and relationships.
Why is it so important to see the truth of how sin defiles? It is because this understanding awakens your need for a Savior. It shows you that you can ever do enough, be enough, or give up enough to meet the righteous standard of God. But this reality does not have to produce shame, instead it can lead you to humbly embrace all that God offers.
Your righteous God gives you a new beginning. And this fresh start has nothing to do with anything we do for God; it has everything to do with what God does in us, through us, and for us. This new beginning also includes a major wardrobe overhaul: exchange rags of sin and shame for beautiful, clean garments of salvation.
In Isaiah 61:10 He says, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness...” This is what you receive in Jesus. No more filthy rags; no more being swept up in shame, fear, anger, or temptation. Salvation is here.
Jesus offers the simplest route to God’s acceptance – faith. Yes, sin defiles...but Jesus saves. In Him you are a new creation, no longer wearing filthy rags but instead clothed in His righteousness, joy and peace. What a beautiful exchange!
Prayer: Father, Thank You for the righteousness that You have given me in Jesus. You could have left me in the filthy rags of sin, but in Your kindness and grace You chose to seek me and save me, exchanging my filth for your righteousness; my sin and shame for Your salvation. Help me to always remember who I am in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.