pigpenI probably shouldn’t admit this, but when I was a boy, dirt didn’t bother me at all. I grew up in a rural area of southern California which gave me many opportunities to get dirty. I was so focused on having fun, when playing outside, that I was often unaware of how dirty I became. I know that was true because when I came back inside my mother would scrub me clean as soon as she found me. She had to do that so often that my skin was often red and chafed.

 That is why I can relate to the Peanuts cartoon character “Pig-Pen.” Remember him? The very first time he appeared in the cartoon strip he told Patty, “I haven’t got a name . . . People just call me things . . . Real insulting things.” He told her that he was usually called “Pig-Pen.” That’s because a dark cloud of dust followed him everywhere he went.

 In one cartoon strip, “Pig-Pen” took a bath and dressed in a set of clean clothes. As soon as he stepped outside, he was instantly dirty and unkempt. That made him tell Charlie Brown, “You know what I am? I’m a dust magnet!” In another episode “Pig-Pen” tries to wash his hands with no success. He then announces that he has “reached a point of no return.”

 Even though I was a lot like “Pig-pen,” as I got older I grew more aware of how dirty I was getting. Now I do a lot better at keeping myself presentable. Everyone around me is very glad of that!

 I have also learned, though, that there is another kind of “dirty” that is very dangerous. We are in danger because we can’t scrub off the “dirt” that clings to our souls. As the Bible puts it, “‘Although you wash yourself with lye

[carbonate of soda] and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity is before Me,’” declares the Lord God” (Jeremiah 2:22). I can’t make myself pure inside, any more than a leopard can change his spots (Jeremiah 13:23).

 That’s not the worst of it. We can think that we’re clean in God’s sight when we really aren’t clean. “There is a kind [of person] who is pure in his own eyes, yet is not washed from his filthiness” (Proverbs 30:12). In other words, even if I think I’m a good person, that doesn’t make me good enough for a holy God. That explains why Jesus said that even those who are very religious may not be going to heaven: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 7:21).

 Don’t miss the good news. No matter how badly our lives have been stained, it is still possible to be completely clean if we will let God do the cleaning. God says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). This is made possible because Jesus was willing to die. He, the perfect God-man, paid the price of sin for us.

 In one way, we are all “Pig-Pens” in God’s eyes, but the dark cloud that surrounds us can be lifted. Even better news: When the cloud of sin is gone, we get great joy! “…Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness…. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation…” (Psalm 51:7-8,12). If you need a clean soul, then turn your life over to Jesus Christ and ask Him to apply His work of forgiveness to you so that you can be forever clean.