Isaiah 6 Reads:
It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.
Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Jesus has removed our guilt and has forgiven our sins. Shouldn’t our response be the same as Isaiah’s?
We were sinful men… a people of unclean lips. We were introduced to God, brought into His family by accepting Jesus. We now stand as brothers and sisters in Christ. Our sins have been washed away – our guilt is gone (unless we cling to the self-indulgent guilt – using it to control our emotions and to control others). With a free conscience we now have relationship with the most high God. Through His spirit and His word we are being transformed. Our hearts are becoming like his. We are getting new motivations for living. And what of God’s heart? In John we read that He so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son. We know the rest of that story.
What worldly thing will we cling to once we allow our heart to be transformed? Will money or a “good living” be our master? How about youth, or beauty, or health and wellness? Will pain-free living dominate our thoughts, or will it be power? Influence, affluence, intelligence, strength, recreation, hobbies, distractions, collections, conspiracies, theories, formulas, or the all pervasive sexuality? What will we sow and reap?
Jesus asks us to sow into the Kingdom of Heaven where we will eventually reap the benefits from the work, and where nothing will destroy or take away from the results. Will we surrender our rights and answer the call of the author and perfecter of our beings? Will we give up our life in order to gain it? Will we lose our lives, money, family, friends, jobs and self for Jesus’ sake in order to find them? How many have counted the real cost of discipleship? How many more want the savior Jesus so they can feel good about themselves, but refuse the lordship and voluntary slavery he demands in exchange for setting us free? No one can purchase salvation – it is given as a free gift – but it was also purchased at the highest price ever paid. Who can refuse to serve once they have been exposed to friendship with God? If our hearts have been transformed into the likeness of Christ – rooted in Christ (who only lived to please his father), then who will we try to please in our life?
If the light you think you have is actually darkness, How deep is that darkness?
