God’s Man Must Start With Cleaning His Own Spiritual House

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.   Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”[1]   God’s men have gotten careless and forgetful with God’s instructions and James hits the nail on the head with the verse above.  How can we possibly listen to Gods Word and then not do what it says?  As I prepared to write this article I was reminded of Isaiah and his experience regarding a world that closely reflected what we see in our world today.  Isaiah was called to be a Prophet, God’s spokesperson, to a world of people that had strayed far from God’s Word and instruction.  But before Isaiah could carry out the assignment God had for him, he had to first get his own life in order.  He had to do some house cleaning in his own spiritual house before he could tell others how to live a Godly life.

 Scripture tells us that Isaiah was mourning the loss of his dear friend King Uzziah and he went to the temple.  I believe it is reasonable to think that Isaiah was feeling down and possibly even a little depressed over the loss of his friend.  He was likely dressed in his very best attire and had on his finest possessions.  Little did he know what he was about to face when he entered the temple.  Isaiah tells us “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”[2]  WOW, Almighty God revealed Himself to Isaiah face-to-face!  The statement “His robe filled the temple” is a metaphor demonstrating there is no place we can go in this world and escape His presence.  The seraphs calling to each other saying “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory, demonstrates the awesome and far reaching holiness of Jehovah God!  It’s hard to even imagine what Isaiah was experiencing and what went through his mind as the doorpost and thresholds of the temple shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

 At this point Isaiah is brought to a stark reality of his situation!  He says “Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”[3]  Isaiah had become an expert at pointing the finger of blame at those around him but failed to examine himself to see if he were living up to the standards he was so quick to judge others by.  Isaiah had to confess “Woe to me” because the holiness of God has brought in to clear view Isaiah’s own sin that has distanced him from God while he was judging the sins of others.  He states “I am a man of unclean lips.”  Isaiah realizes that in order for him to be pleasing to God and to be God’s spokesperson he must repent of his own sin and clean his own spiritual house first.

 Isaiah tells us “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”  I can’t begin to imagine the physical anguish a hot coal placed on my lips would feel like!  Yet Isaiah is told that his guilt is taken away and sin atoned for.  While Jesus suffered the physical, emotional and spiritual pain to provide atonement for our sins, God’s men must realize that there are times when confessing and dealing with sin can be a painful process regardless of whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual pain.  It is through this process that we are being prepared to serve.  We must first get our own spiritual house in order before we can truly be God’s spokesperson.

 At this point God asks a very important question.  Isaiah says “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”[4]  Make no bones about it, God knew the answer to the question before he asked it; He asked because it was important for Isaiah to hear it.  With this life changing experience Isaiah had just gone through he was prepared to reply “Here am I. Send me!”  [5] Isaiah Chapter 6 is referred to as Isaiah’s commissioning.  This life changing experience led to a lifetime of modeling a lifestyle that is desired by our Heavenly Father.  It all starts with looking at ourselves and doing an inventory and, where needed, a little housecleaning.  Isaiah started with confession of his own sin and God took care of the rest.

 Contemporary Christian Artist TobyMac has written powerful lyrics concerning forgiveness.  The song on his “Eye On It” album says: