Marked with Iniquities Psalm 130:3-4

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!

Making Foolish Fabrics Matthew 17:4-5

Peter said to Jesus,”Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles (sacred tents) here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said,”This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” Matthew 17:4-5

You gotta love Peter. Just gotta. Here they are, the three most intimate of Jesus' disciples. Jesus picked them for a special revelation and took them up to a mountaintop to see wonderful things. And Peter blows it. Here in front of him stands, of all people, Moses, and the prophet Elijah. Imagine the possibilities! Imagine what they could have said in Peter's presence...the things that 3 holy men could have taught 3 disciples (learners, students). If only they would have kept their mouths shut.

We all know them and some of us are them. We think we know a lot. We think we have something to teach, to share, to inspire, to strengthen, and to serve. I'm sure Peter had these thoughts. Wow, I can do something for Jesus and Moses and Elijah. I can make them tents! Wahooo!

Really, Peter? Really? Is this the time to go from being a fisherman to a tentmaker? To open your mouth and offer to DO instead of to LISTEN. Instead of learning we offer to serve. We know the right thing to do. To do! We have the answers when we should be realizing the true miracle of what we are experiencing and soaking it all in. We are, in essence, foolish. Really, really foolish.

How many times do we act like Peter. We offer to serve in the most inappropriate ways in the middle of what is supposed to be our biggest opportunity to experience God Himself, to be in His presence in awe and wonder and SILENCE. What does God tell Peter? “Shut up and LISTEN, you silly man. This is the Son of God whose presence you are standing in...LISTEN!” That did put the 3 disciples on their faces. I wonder if James and John chewed Peter out later. They, too, were cheated out of the opportunity to stay in the presence of the 3 greatest men in human history. Or were they just glad that they were not the ones to open their mouths? They were the Sons of Thunder. Big mouths. Boasting, bragging, and brash. But these zealots were Christ's best friends. He knew that their passion would someday change the world. And until then, they continued to miss out on opportunities to see Jesus work, to listen to Him teach, to absorb everything He had to say because their thoughts, too, were on their own self-importance. They wanted to be at Jesus' right hand so much that they had mommy pleading their case.

So what is your tent that you want to build Jesus and the Law and the Prophets? What do you think you have to offer God that His Son, His Word, and His Plan need help with, need your protection or unscripted offerings? God had given the Jews the blueprints for the tabernacle, and here Peter thinks He can come up with one on his own. When are we busting in wanting our program, our offering, our plan to change the world instead of sitting, kneeling, and bowing to the plan of God revealed to us? As much as I would like to think my offerings are going to somehow please God, nothing will please Him more than listening to His Son. The Son makes us acceptable to the Father. We tend to forget that. Without the Son, we are separated from the Holy Father. We can walk with Him. Judas walked with Him. And was separated from God because He did not accept God's plan. Judas had another plan for Jesus. He was going to take over Rome. And when that plan didn't happen, the betrayal began. He was not content with Jesus, with not having stuff (dude, he STOLE from Jesus as the treasurer...that would take some nerve), and with not setting up a kingship. If he was going to sacrifice the creature comforts of life, he wanted to see a return. He was discontent. Not that the other disciples didn't have their moments. People left in droves at times, and when Jesus asked Peter if they were staying, Peter's response was pretty deflated. Where else can we go. You have the Words of eternal life (even though right now they don't seem to be bringing life, but hardship). We so like to think if we were God that things would be different. We could do it better. Or that our method of worship will bring better results than God's way. God's house was a house of prayer, of worship, of sacrifice. Now we want to make it a place of entertainment, of self-affirmation, and favorite speakers. We forget that it isn't about US. It is about God. It's not about drawing attention to Jesus, but to man. It's about how man reaches up to God in his futile efforts instead of coming into God's presence and Listening to Him. To learn Christ.

Ah, Peter, thank you for reminding me about every time you are mentioned in scripture, that self-importance is foolish, but forgivable. Thank you for cowering and lying and hiding, and yet being used of God to preach boldly, and to write letters that demonstrate how the Spirit can take a boaster and turn him into a worshiper. And thank you, Lord, for forgiving me for being Peter almost every day of my life. Transfigure my heart.