Maybe it was because, when he was first introduced into the comic strip (in 1954) he declares, "I haven't got a name...People just call me things...Real insulting things..."
"Pig Pen" always wore filthy overalls and moved in a bubble of dust and dirt that followed him everywhere he went. Sometimes the dust rose around him. Sometimes it formed a dense cloud that crowned his head like a dingy halo.
It was amusing to hear how he justified his filthy appearance. Once he called himself a "dust magnet."
Another time he glamorized his dirty cloud as the "dust of ancient civilizations."
Only Charlie Brown could unconditionally accept "Pig Pen" and cleverly defended him:
Don't think of it as dust. Just think of it as the dust and dirt of far-off lands blowing over here and settling on "Pig Pen." It staggers the imagination! He may be carrying the soil that was trod upon by Solomon or Nebuchadnezzar or Genghis Khan.
It's not that "Pig Pen" never tried to clean himself up. He seemed to yearn sometimes to be clean.
But even when he did try to clean himself up, he just couldn't stay clean!
On a rare occasion he did appear clean in the comic strip, but then he was unrecognizable.
Someone described him as "the only person who could get dirty while walking in a snowstorm."
Once when he wanted to impress Patty, he managed to keep one side of his body clean and presented this clean side to her, causing her to believe that he was completely clean. Until he turned around.
We all loved "Pig Pen." His career was ended in 1999, on September 8, when he showed embarrassment, for the first time, of his dirtiness. That was sort of his "farewell address" I guess. Because I don't think we heard from him anymore.
I don't miss "Pig Pen." He remains in my memory, always there like a little yellow sticky note, reminding me of the eternal truth of my own appearance and condition when I stand before God.
It's all there --"Pig Pen" is me.Yes, I do aspire to be clean, but I can't clean myself up.
Sometimes I can clean some parts, and try to show these scrubbed up, neat and tidy, areas to those around me. But then when I turn around they all see the truth!
I am a "sin magnet." And I carry the sins of past civilizations, as well as my own sins of my own choice.
I can't diminish my own responsibility for my condition by blaming my parents, my education, society in general....it's just the way I am....the "human condition."
But that's not the end of the story.
All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags...(Isaiah 64:6)
We do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. (Daniel 9:18)
Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Philippians 3:9)
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)
Jesus answered, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." (John 13:8)
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (John 15:3)
When He shall come with
trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne.
It's the great exchange -- I give Him my life and all its pride, selfishness, greed, anger -- all my sins -- and He gives me His righteousness and welcomes me into His family! Debt free! Paid in full! Forever!
It's the best deal in the universe. How foolish would a person be who turned it down?
No comments:
Post a Comment