No Dirty Laundry
Friday December 20, 2013
One day while the prophet Isaiah was praying, he saw a vision of God sitting on his throne in heaven. In the brightness of God's purity, Isaiah noticed his own sinfulness and the brokenness of others around him. The perfection and holiness and beauty of God changed Isaiah's view of everything, including himself. Isaiah's first response was one of hopelessness and doom because he saw how deep and dark the filth of sin was in him, and also in others.
It was in the year King Uzziah died 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.” And he said, “Yes, go ...." (Isaiah 6:1-9 NLT)
God is kind. He is NOT trying to motivate us with shame, and He has NO desire whatsoever, to humiliate us. He's been aware all along of all the sin we have just become aware of. God knows that as we become more conscious of our sin, we will feel shame. God, in His great kindness, has provided a solution for that shame. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas.
Because Jesus came to earth to die for us, God offers forgiveness to us instantly when we ask Him. We can't clean ourselves enough to come before God. We can't do anything on our own about the ugliness of our attitudes, words, and actions, as they contrast to new knowledge we get of God's goodness. What we can do is make ourselves available to God's cleansing and healing. Jesus, about whom the angels sang to the shepherds over 2000 years ago, reveals the beauty of God's kindness and forgiving acceptance of us when we come to Him. We celebrate his birth as a vulnerable baby at Christmas but he died an even more vulnerable death for us on the cross 33 years later.
What an amazing gift God prepares for us in this pre-Christmas season .... not only forgiveness and the lifting of our guilt but the sending of us out as messengers of hope among others who are struggling just like we were. This is a season of hope. This time is given to us to share this wonderful living hope.
Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” (John 20:21 NLT)
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