In Isaiah’s vision of the Lord the first words he hears are the seraphim declaring the threefold holiness of God. I suspect that these words of the angels would be just as startling today as they were to Isaiah. We live in a time where the concept of holiness and sacredness seem to have been forgotten by many and never learned by others.
The sense of decorum and propriety that society once fostered has fallen on the altar of casualness and personal preference. It may have started a generation ago with pop stars like Madonna. It didn’t stop with her. Lady Gaga, late night television, raunchy comedians and vulgar public figures are informing our youth. There once was a time when I observed that the irreligious did not know how to act in church. Today it seems that large numbers of self-proclaimed church leaders no longer know how to act in church.
Has God changed? Is He no longer holy? Does God simply smile at our crude jokes? I think not. If someone were to be transported to God’s throne in heaven, the reaction would be the same as Isaiah’s when he exclaimed, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5).
Indeed it is not only the “edgy” comedians who have unclean lips. We all have become numbed to the falleness of our language. The exclamation, “OMG” flows freely from the lips of pious youth and adults. Elders in the church use language once reserved for smoke filled venues.
What is to be done? Recognize your sinfulness and repent as Isaiah did. God did not leave Isaiah in his sinfulness. The Bible records: Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:6, 7.
Our sin has been atoned for on the altar of the cross. Jesus has redeemed us from sinful words, thoughts and actions. May the Holy Spirit move us to live as those redeemed by Christ the crucified in what we say, think and do.
Prayer: O Holy Spirit, grant that I may have a longing for holiness in my life. Thank you for the forgiveness that I have under the cross. Amen.
The Calling of Isaiah
Giovan Battista Tiepolo 1696 – 1770
fresco (200 × 250 cm) — 1726 - 1729
Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine
http://www.artbible.info/art/large/469.html
God’s richest blessings in Christ,
Pastor Philip Quardokus
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