dirty rags

Then he showed me Joshua^ the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan^ standing at his right side to accuse him. ^2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

^3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ^4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”

 (Zec 3:1-4., NIV)

I know this, but for some reason this morning these verses in Zechariah jumped off the page when I read it.  This morning I was reminded of how great God is, and I want to share with you a couple of things that this reminded me:

1. That I have an enemy that is constantly trying to discredit me. (vs.1)
2. Even greater is I have a savior that stands up for me, and literally jerked me off the path to a place called hell (vs.2)
3. That anything good or right that I do is as filthy rags before God.  It's not by my actions, words, or deeds that I can accomplish going to heaven, but Gods (vs. 3)
4. Jesus has taken away my sin, He takes away my filthy rags, and gives me a new robe.  Jesus has taken away the wrongs I do and will continue to do and gives me a new life.

Sometimes some of the most fundamental truths in scripture can be overlooked, just the thoughts of what these verses said to me this morning where very encouraging and exciting to me.  I pray they are for you...

have a great day, Chris