Then I said, “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal 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.”
Isaiah 6:5-7Isaiah 6:5-7
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
5 Then I cried out, “I'm doomed! Everything I say is sinful, and so are the words of everyone around me. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.” 6 One of the flaming creatures flew over to me with a burning coal that it had taken from the altar with a pair of metal tongs. 7 It touched my lips with the hot coal and said, “This has touched your lips. Your sins are forgiven, and you are no longer guilty.”
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There is such richness in this passage, and its entire context. Too much for us to deal with here. We have time for only one thing today, measuring ourselves against Christ. In God’s presence, we see who we really are. And yet, God in his grace wants to use what we are.
We who know the work of Christ have every reason to worship him. We can praise God for all of his character, all his potential. But we have a unique reason to worship God: he has rescued us from our sin. And he continues to work in our hearts, calling us to be better representations of him. What sin has he rescued your from? What areas is he still working in?
So many thoughts are swirling in my head, and I have to fight to remember that before we can go out with God’s message – before we can speak with power and authority – we have to experience the message. If we are going to live in community, we have to experience forgiveness. If we are going to call people to repentance, we have to have working knowledge of God’s mercy. We have to be sold on the product!
Today, use this time to pray. Specifically, ask God to reveal areas of your life that disrupt your ability to grow in your relationship with him, to be a good representation of him. It isn’t about comparing ourselves to one another, trying to impress them or make ourselves feel better. It is about patterning our lives after Christ, as we understand his heart and mind better. We’re not seeking excuse to beat ourselves up for our failure; we’re looking for opportunity to please God by becoming more like the Son.
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