Unhampered

Back in the day, when I started doing my own laundry, I would wash anything that I wore once. It was college. And yes, I had to learn the lesson of not mixing my whites with colors after turning my underwear pink. I still recall one of the dudes on my floor using a broomstick/pole (minus the broom itself) to stuff all his laundry into one washing machine to save on spending quarters. From what recall, he may have even been standing atop the machine.     

As I got older, I came to understand that this wear once/wash once was an enormous waste of time, water, money, energy, etc. I am not sure when I wised up. I think it was when I started to notice that my dress pants were fading and falling apart. Dirt is destructive to the fibers of fabric. It acts as sandpaper grinding down the threads to threadbare. So, there is a spectrum in laundering clothes but my guess is that most of us wash our clothes too often and too much. All that lint? That used to be your clothes.

Rule of Thumb: If the clothes are undergarments like boxers or undershirts, those are washed after wearing once. Rule of Nose: If another piece of clothing reeks, time to wash. Otherwise, wear it again. Since incorporating this strategy, my clothes are lasting much longer.

There are some work jobs where sweating, dirt, or odors, are commonplace. That is obviously a wash every time type of deal. But, for white collar workers like me, unless I have an unusually stressful day where I can smell the fear emanating from my sweaty armpits, I can usually not wash clothes until after several wearings. Less work, less wear on the clothes. A win-win.

I believe a spiritual application is this. I think we worry a lot about our standing with God. Am I clean or unclean? Does He accept me or not? I was nominally raised a Catholic and as I a kid I always felt an enormous conditionalality in God. I am not sure where the Gospel of Grace was in all of it. More like a lot of guilt, piled high. Confession, for all of its benefits, was excruciating.  When I learned more, I came to realize that confession really needed to be directed to the person that I had sinned against. Not some priest. Still not pleasant but it made a lot more sense to approach the one I had offended.  

Some guilt is not always a bad thing. We are worse than we think. Yet, I also believe that when God called me through Christ to Himself, that hand-wringing was over. I can wash myself in works over and over again and still not be clean. That is not in my power. It rests in God.

Christ has made us clean.  When troubles over the last decade--or my whole life since becoming a Christian for that matter--have swarmed over me like a plague of locusts, I certainly wondered what God was doing. Was I guilty of some hidden sin? Did He have it out for me? However, I never really considered whether I was saved or not, since I believe that "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13). 

A dear Catholic work colleague of mine from years ago said something to the effect that "It is so easy for you Protestants." My reply to her was to not make something complicated that Christ Himself has made simple. I mean, His dying for sin was far from simple of course, and we should never lack gratitude for redemption, but I wasn't going to make it more complicated than the Bible did. 

A lot of time we consider sins of commission, like dirty laundry, to be the spiritual deficit and I am not stating that it isn't entirely. Yet, I think we are a lot more guilty of the sins of omission--where we could do good and don't. I believe by faith that God has that covered also but I don't want to retreat from doing good in the world. Light a candle versus cursing the darkness type of thing. This is not for redemption but the Bible does suggest eternal rewards. 

The Good News is truly good. We have been forgiven. Put your washing away.