She laughed. “That old shirt is worn out, the numbers are faded, it doesn’t even cover your belly anymore, it’s ripped, and besides you have new shirts in the closet you don’t even wear.” I reluctantly, but sadly, agreed and left it in the ragbag.

Some things are best thrown in the ragbag and left there. Regrets, rejection, hurts of the past, mistakes, and sins can rip and tear apart the attire of our soul. They can shrink, sour, or put holes in our soul. It’s like a favorite old shirt we sometimes become attached to or so accustomed to the damage and decay that we don’t notice it. Perhaps we enjoy it so much that we are reluctant to relegate it to the ragbag and leave it there.

Years ago while attending college I worked at a big department store. I was assigned the task of unloading a truckload of car batteries. No one informed me that I should wear a protective apron. When I was finished, I looked down at my clothes and discovered that battery acid had leaked out of the batteries and had eaten holes in my shirt and jeans. They looked like Swiss cheese.

The acid of regret, rejection, anger, un-forgiveness, hate, and sin can destroy your soul. Those acid eaten clothes were not even fit for the ragbag. I had to throw them away and buy new ones. Is the garment of your soul like that?

Jesus told the story of the prodigal son who demanded his inheritance from his father, went to a far country, and wasted it in riotous living. He ended up in a pigsty. He eventually swallowed his pride and went back to his father in repentance. “I have sinned against God and you”, the son cried. “I am not worthy to be a son, just make me one of your hired servants.” The father forgave him and called his servants to bring a new robe, shoes, and the ring of son ship. He called for a feast of celebration, for his son that was lost was found. (See Luke 15:11-24.)

The prodigal son received a new robe, but first he had to throw away his old, smelly, dirty rags. The Word of God tells us that when we come home to our heavenly Father through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, that all things become new. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Throw your old rags in God’s ragbag of mercy. He will forgive and forget your sins. (See Psalm 103:10-13.) Receive a clean robe of righteousness (I John 1:9, 10).

The Wise Men, dressed in regal robes, followed a star from the east in search of a newborn king. It led them to Bethlehem where they found a babe in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes of human flesh. Christ came from heaven to make the great exchange – your swaddling clothes of decay and death for heaven’s robe of everlasting life.

The aged Apostle John, exiled on a rocky prison island, was given a revelation of this king announced by angels but born in a stable. “Grace and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come. And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him who love us and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:4, 5).

Have you been forgiven and cleansed by the sacrificial blood of Christ shed on the cross for the sins of the world? Then throw your old tattered garments into God’s ragbag of mercy and forgiveness and leave them there. He has a new white garment of righteousness for you.

A - Admit you have sinned. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

B - Believe in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

C - Confess and leave your sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)