I can’t tell you the exact history of shredding paper but I do know that in the past few years it has grown into a real business. I suppose that folks started tearing, shredding and other-wise ripping paper apart pretty much a few moments after it was invented and the first mistake was made writing something upon it.
With the advent of cheap and effective machines shredding paper is no longer a purely manual exercise; we now have very fancy devices that can reduce the mightiest sheet of paper into very fine confetti in no time at all. This is not surprising to me at all. We humans have always managed to find ways of inventing devices that mimic and often improve upon our actions. What does surprise me, however, is the fact that shredding paper has now become big business.
That’s right. Some clever entrepreneurs have turned the permanent destruction of written records into very successful money making ventures. Their success is driven by two simple factors: the need for privacy and the sheer volume of paper still used in business. While small personal shredders might suffice for small businesses or private households, there comes a point at which the sheer volume of paper is simply too much to be dealt with at a company level and trained professionals with big machines are the only effective solution.
This idea of permanently shredding records on a massive scale got me to thinking about Jesus’ role in our lives. Jesus is the one who permanently shreds all records of our sin. His job is to take the great volume of human peccadilloes and reduce them to absolute nothing.
We can’t do it alone. In fact, we can’t do it at all. There is no way for us to eliminate the stain of sin. Forgiveness can only come from God, because it is God that is its ultimate victim. Certainly we too are victims: we hurt ourselves and others by going against God’s will. However, because it is God’s will that we defy it is God that feels the greatest effect of our defiance; thus it is only God that can forgive us.
Thankfully, God’s love and mercy are such that He can’t let us wallow in sin. God wants us whole and healthy. A broken and pained humanity cannot love God the way He deserves so through Jesus, God sets the record straight by utterly destroying it. Jesus effectively shreds the record of our sin leaving us pure, worthy and ready to love and serve God as He deserves.
Perhaps the best thing about Jesus role is that it’s not just big business for Him. Jesus is interested in each of us personally, so that He doesn’t just blindly erase our sin. Instead, He listens to our prayers and helps us write a new chapter in our lives that hopefully will never need to be shredded.
