f You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O
Lord, who would stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You
may be feared. Psalm 130: 3-4
I work part-time in a fabric store; a
quilt shop, to be precise. And sometimes the beautiful bolts have
issues. Sometimes they are minor. The fabric is wound on the bolt
crooked. Often we will have to unroll way more than we need, realign
it, and then cut. It takes time and is aggravating, but there is no
real harm done unless you aren't paying attention, cut it, and the
cuts then reveal that you have giant v's in the sides. Or the
selvages are not even, so when we go to cut fat quarters, we have to
move them so that one person doesn't end up with less than their
expected 20”. Sometimes you get those stupid bolts that have more
than one piece wound on the bolt. You ordered a bolt with 15 yards,
and you may get 8 ½ yards and 6 ½ yards, or anywhere in between to
make your 15 yards. You may end up with remnants, or some sweet soul
will just say they will buy the offending 3” leftover...
And then there are the stickers and the
plastic tag gun markers. Those mean we have a problem. A real
problem, not just a perceived one like mentioned above. Those markers
mean we have one of several types of flaws. There may be a discoloring – a bleach mark, a slub that was printed on an came
loose and leaves a white spot, or there is a hole! Something went
wrong with either the fabric, the printing, or the machine. In any
case, the place they are marking is unusable. WHY they mark the
darned things and then go ahead and send it to us I will never know.
Do they add inches to the bolt to make up for it? Not that I am aware
of. When you roll it out in private, like cutting fat quarters, we
have to deal with it. We have waste. And when you come to those
places in front of a customer, they wonder how many other flaws are
going to be in their expensive fabric, and what kind of quality of
goods they are being sold! It is against every grain of our human
nature to pay for something that is flawed. Do we get a discount for
loss of use of that part? The boss will call and ask for up to a yard
of credit depending on the size and placement of the problem. We will
start inspecting the piece ourselves for more flaws. The most
beautiful fabric can turn into a problem child when it has been
marked. You are suspicious of it from the get-go. It is flawed and
you never know just how flawed at that point.
Now mind you that those that are marked
are like this verse. God looks at us and sees EVERY flaw in our
lifes. If we were a bolt of fabric unrolled for Him to see, we would
be totally unusable. The flaws would be marked everywhere. There
would be dots with arrows pointing to my haughty attitude toward a
friend, the selfish choice of use of time and resources, the
white-lie to get my way, and the down-right refusal to follow His
commands to the letter. The unintentional speeding, the overdue
library book, and the ungiven meal or hug. It would all become
obvious. The blots and dots, the holes and mis-weavings would be
tagged, marked for all to see. Are you not glad most days that people
cannot see what God sees...behind that smile is a sneer, behind that
act of kindness the desire to get something? No one would have
anything to do with us! But God...
This is where the lovely verse comes
in...If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 What does it
mean to confess? It means to agree with God not only that we have
sinned, but that we are sinners! How many times do we come to God and
say we messed up, but really it wasn't so bad? We don't in our hearts
agree with Him that our sin is awful and horrible and unholy? We deny
that our flaws, marked by Him but ignored by us, are really going to
ruin the project for which the fabric was going to be used. But when
push comes to shove, we know if we use the flawed fabric someone will
notice, the value of the piece goes down immediately, and we will not
be satisfied with the final results. We know the flaw was big enough
to be noticed before use, and that flaw will not go away. It can be
cut around and the rest of the piece salvaged if it doesn't fall in a
place that is necessary to be used, like a long border or the middle
of an apron.
So who would pay for a bolt of flaws?
Well, His name is Jesus. He bought us, redeemed us, and it was
certainly NOT because we were perfect. Scripture says that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly! He paid for us, flaws
and all, and called us His own. No discount bin or remnant pile for
Him! He paid the full price for that Flaw named Candra, and He paid
full price for you, too. We were not sent back to the factory in
exchange for a perfect bolt. The perfect Quilter was willing to
accept us, and cut around the flaws, combine us with others bolts
that He redeemed, and sew us into a masterpiece for His glory.
And He marked us with the Holy Spirit
so we couldn't belong to anyone else. That is one marking I rejoice
in. Sealed with a life that we could never have on our own for His
glory and praise!
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