Job 13:28

A Moth-Eaten Garment

A garment that is moth-eaten. Job 13:28.

I want you to take a good look at what I have brought you today. It is a cashmere shawl belonging to an old lady who is a friend of mine, and she very kindly lent it to me as a text for you.

If you looked at the shawl from a distance you might imagine it was very beautiful, but if you came a little closer you would see that it is all riddled with small holes, just as if a great many bullets had gone through it. I hope some of you can see the holes from where you are sitting.

Now I wonder who made these holes in the shawl? Well, my friend forgot to put any camphor in the drawer where she laid away her best shawl, and later along came Mrs. Moth looking for a nice, soft, warm place to lay her eggs. When she found the shawl she exclaimed, “Why, here's the very thing!” and she lost no time in setting to work.

Shortly after, out of each egg popped a little grub, and as he came out to the world he said to himself, “I'm really most awfully hungry. I must have something to eat.” So he at once proceeded to eat the thing nearest to him, which happened to be his particular corner of the shawl. And that is how the holes came in the cashmere.

Now I think that our characters are a little like this moth-eaten shawl. They were meant to be beautiful and useful, but some destructive moths have eaten into them and spoiled them. I wonder what the names of these moths are? I think they are bad habits, and unkind feelings, and wicked thoughts.

1. There are two ways in which these moths spoil our character first they spoil its beauty, and second they spoil its usefulness.

(1) They spoil its beauty. If you came a little nearer you would see how the moths have spoiled the beauty of this shawl. It is made of a lovely, soft, fine wool and must have been very nice to look at once upon a time, but now nobody would wish to wear it as an ornament. It is altogether spoiled. And it is just like that with bad habits. They make ugly holes in our character. You often meet people who would have been very noble and grand and beautiful if they had not allowed a wicked temper, or an unkind feeling, or a bad habit to get the better of them.

(2) And besides spoiling the beauty of our character, these wicked little moths spoil its usefulness. A garment that is badly moth-eaten is of no use. It is quite rotten and tears when we pull it.

Now I think we should all like to be of use to somebody in the world, but if we let those wicked little moths eat into our nature I'm afraid we won't be able to do much good. They will weaken our character until nobody will be able to rely on us.

2. Shall I give you two recipes to help to keep away the moths?

(1) First, be busy. You know it is when clothes are laid away idle that the moths come to them. I read a poem the other day about a lady who owned a very beautiful garment. It was so beautiful that she thought it was too fine to wear, so she laid it away carefully in a drawer. Guests came to the house but she received them in sober raiment. The poor and the orphaned came and she gave them pity, but she never cheered them with a sight of the beautiful garment. It lay wrapped up in a napkin in the dark drawer, its beauty all hidden. And then a feast-day came and she took out the garment meaning to wear it. But when she shook out its wonderful folds she found that the moths had been busy with it, and that its beauty and its usefulness were gone for ever. And the writer of the poem ends with these two lines

Into the folded robe alone

The moth with its blighting steals.

One of the best ways of keeping good is to do good. If you are busy helping and serving others and making use of the talents God has given you, why then, you have very little time to harbor wicked thoughts or grow bad habits. The boys and girls that Satan loves to get hold of are those who have no aim in life and too much time on their hands. He usually finds them an easy prey. So the first recipe is “Be busy.”

(2) And the second is “ Use plenty of camphor.” If you keep plenty of camphor among your garments the moths will be afraid to come near them. And what camphor shall we use to keep the moths of bad habits away from our characters? The camphor of prayer. God will never refuse to help us if we ask Him, and when we have this remedy at hand we should all use it.

3. But I'm afraid that in spite of all our efforts there will still be a few moth-holes in the garments of our characters, for all of us began to let the moths have their way before we could even walk or talk. What are we to do then? Are we to go through life with our beauty and our usefulness always a bit spoilt? Sometimes when you have made a big tear in your coat or your dress, mother mends it so you can hardly see it, but even mother isn't clever enough to get rid of the holes in the moth-eaten garment.

But Jesus can mend the holes in the moth-eaten garments of our characters. He, and He alone, can do it because He alone has lived the perfect life, and He has suffered and died to make us good. He can take away all the ugliness out of our lives and put our mistakes right, and He can present us at last faultless before His Father's throne with exceeding joy.