What is the meaning of Holiness? Holiness means morally perfect, pure, and set apart from all sin. Today, as I was reading Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah, while in the presence of the Lord, witnessed seraphs (or angels) shout praises to God and stress God's holiness. They were calling to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory." The Bible says, at the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. The awesomeness of this that Isaiah witnessed, must have been so overwhelming, seeing the Lord and listening to the praise of the angels, I mean, think about it, verse one says the train of the Lord's robe FILLED the temple! Can you imagine what Isaiah was seeing? So when Isaiah witnesses all of this going on, and he's actually in the presence of the Lord, suddenly he cries out, "Woe is me! 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!" Isaiah realized he had no hope of measuring up to God's standard of holiness. ( None of us are perfect like God is, nor will we ever be in this life. ) But as soon as Isaiah said this, one of the seraphs flew to him with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched Isaiah's lips with it and said, "Your guilt is taken away and your sins atoned for." It wasn't the coal that cleansed him, but God. When this happened, Isaiah submitted himself entirely to God's service. This may seem like a painful process of cleansing, but it was necessary before Isaiah could fulfill the task that God was calling him to do. Sometimes, letting God purify us, may be painful but we have to be purified before we can truely represent God, who is pure and holy. Once this happened, it helped Isaiah to see God more clearly and this made him more aware of his own powerlessness, and inadequacy to do anything of lasting value without God. But it also made him more willing to be God's spokesman.
You see, none of us are perfect. There is no perfect christian, no perfect person. As we've heard time and time again, Jesus was the only perfect man that ever walked this earth. But sometimes, in our christian walk, we get slack in the things we do, or the way we act or represent Christ. We get caught up in things in this world, and when God calls us or commissions us to do something, we argue with him, try to change His mind, maybe put it off for awhile, swear up and down that it wasn't really God who told us to do it.......but, just maybe, if we stop and began to search ourselves, and recognize that we need to let God purify us, then we would be more willing to do what He asked of us. In otherwords, we need to search our hearts, and ask ourselves this question.... " How close am I willing to walk with God? How much am I willing to do for the Lord? If He calls me into the ministry, am I willing to accept the call? If He asks me to witness to a total stranger on the street, will I do it? Or will I be too embarrassed, and say to myself, "Well, God don't really expect us to do things like that...". If He asks you to be a missionary....will you go? Are we truely willing to do whatever God wants and asks us to do? My mother loved God so much, that I truely believe she was willing to do anything God asked her to. She witnessed to people at department stores when she was shopping, in line at a register she would tell them what God had done for her, it didn't matter if they wanted to hear it or not, she would witness for God as long as someone was willing to listen. If God wakes you up in the middle of the night and asks you to pray for someone or pray about something going on in your life, and you have to work the next morning, will you be willing to get up and pray? What are we willing to do for God? After this happened with Isaiah, then he hears the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And Isaiah said, "Here am I, send me!" He was willing to do whatever the Lord wanted him to do.
What about us............... when God says, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
Will we be as eager as Isaiah was and say, "Here I am Lord.....send me!" Or will we say, "Who Me?"
You see, none of us are perfect. There is no perfect christian, no perfect person. As we've heard time and time again, Jesus was the only perfect man that ever walked this earth. But sometimes, in our christian walk, we get slack in the things we do, or the way we act or represent Christ. We get caught up in things in this world, and when God calls us or commissions us to do something, we argue with him, try to change His mind, maybe put it off for awhile, swear up and down that it wasn't really God who told us to do it.......but, just maybe, if we stop and began to search ourselves, and recognize that we need to let God purify us, then we would be more willing to do what He asked of us. In otherwords, we need to search our hearts, and ask ourselves this question.... " How close am I willing to walk with God? How much am I willing to do for the Lord? If He calls me into the ministry, am I willing to accept the call? If He asks me to witness to a total stranger on the street, will I do it? Or will I be too embarrassed, and say to myself, "Well, God don't really expect us to do things like that...". If He asks you to be a missionary....will you go? Are we truely willing to do whatever God wants and asks us to do? My mother loved God so much, that I truely believe she was willing to do anything God asked her to. She witnessed to people at department stores when she was shopping, in line at a register she would tell them what God had done for her, it didn't matter if they wanted to hear it or not, she would witness for God as long as someone was willing to listen. If God wakes you up in the middle of the night and asks you to pray for someone or pray about something going on in your life, and you have to work the next morning, will you be willing to get up and pray? What are we willing to do for God? After this happened with Isaiah, then he hears the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And Isaiah said, "Here am I, send me!" He was willing to do whatever the Lord wanted him to do.
What about us............... when God says, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
Will we be as eager as Isaiah was and say, "Here I am Lord.....send me!" Or will we say, "Who Me?"
