From the very beginning, human beings have been trying to "cover-up" their sin. We've been trying to beautify an exterior to conceal an interior that is filthy. It's like putting on make-up, it's merely a mask, the real you is still beneath all of the foundation, lipstick and mascara. All of the imperfections and flaws are still there. It's the same with our hearts. SIN, yes, SIN, is deeply rooted in the hearts of men. From the beginning, Adam and Eve sowed those fig leaves to cover themselves. We are doing the same thing. Someone put it this way: it's like putting band-aid on a wound that needs surgery. I was witnessing to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, and I was saying, you know, we either choose to accept God's salvation or we reject it and we reap the rewards of which ever choice we make. We can either accept God's gift and gain eternal life or we can reject it and suffer an eternity separated from God. And their reply was along these lines "I don't think I deserve to go to hell. I'm not THAT bad." My reply was this [For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23]
When recovering from addiction, the first step is acknowledgment. After all, you won't get help if you don't believe that you need help. [The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9] When we fail to recognise that there is nothing good in us, we see no need for change. Transformation can only start when we acknowledge that we are wretched, when we acknowledge our sin and cry out to God for help. We should not be measuring ourselves by the world's standard. By the world's standard, we might not be "that bad" but when we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ, the Word of God, we get a true representation of who we really are.
In Isaiah 6, after King Uzziah died, it says that Isaiah saw God. Could you imagine? Seeing a holy and righteous God? Not only holy but "holy, holy, holy"? I believe I would have said the same thing Isaiah did ["Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips." Isaiah 6:5] Notice that Isaiah did not only acknowledge that he had a problem, he also allowed God to do something about the problem. The passage goes on to say that an angel took a burning coal from the altar and touched it to Isaiah's lips and said "“Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” [Isaiah 6:7] The story does not stop there but goes on to talk about how God commissioned Isaiah.
In this passage is such a glorious revelation! In order for any change to come about in our lives and for the problem of sin to be dealt with, we have to have an encounter with God, we have to see God, just as Isaiah did. We cannot have a true encounter with God and remain unchanged. Just like Isaiah, we will realise that we are wretched, that we are sinful. Even David said ["For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:5 NLT]
Like Paul we will cry out ["What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:24] He continues to give the answer ["Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:25] If like Isaiah, we confess who we are, if we confess that we have sinned and that we are sinful, then change can come and just like the coal was touched to Isaiah's lips, the blood of Christ will be applied to our hearts and our lives and true transformation will begin. God will cleanse us of all unrighteousness, purify our hearts, renew our minds and fill us with His Holy Spirit so that our thoughts and our actions are not controlled by our sinful nature but by the Spirit of God.
Just recently, I went to a production called UNMASKED: AWAKENING TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. It was amazing and the title really stuck with me. In order for change to come, the pretense must end, the mask must come off. Because it's only when we accept our weakness and rely on the Almighty God, that we are awakened to true righteousness, the robe of righteousness which Jesus Christ graciously bestows on us.
When recovering from addiction, the first step is acknowledgment. After all, you won't get help if you don't believe that you need help. [The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9] When we fail to recognise that there is nothing good in us, we see no need for change. Transformation can only start when we acknowledge that we are wretched, when we acknowledge our sin and cry out to God for help. We should not be measuring ourselves by the world's standard. By the world's standard, we might not be "that bad" but when we compare ourselves to Jesus Christ, the Word of God, we get a true representation of who we really are.
In Isaiah 6, after King Uzziah died, it says that Isaiah saw God. Could you imagine? Seeing a holy and righteous God? Not only holy but "holy, holy, holy"? I believe I would have said the same thing Isaiah did ["Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips." Isaiah 6:5] Notice that Isaiah did not only acknowledge that he had a problem, he also allowed God to do something about the problem. The passage goes on to say that an angel took a burning coal from the altar and touched it to Isaiah's lips and said "“Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” [Isaiah 6:7] The story does not stop there but goes on to talk about how God commissioned Isaiah.
In this passage is such a glorious revelation! In order for any change to come about in our lives and for the problem of sin to be dealt with, we have to have an encounter with God, we have to see God, just as Isaiah did. We cannot have a true encounter with God and remain unchanged. Just like Isaiah, we will realise that we are wretched, that we are sinful. Even David said ["For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:5 NLT]
Like Paul we will cry out ["What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7:24] He continues to give the answer ["Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:25] If like Isaiah, we confess who we are, if we confess that we have sinned and that we are sinful, then change can come and just like the coal was touched to Isaiah's lips, the blood of Christ will be applied to our hearts and our lives and true transformation will begin. God will cleanse us of all unrighteousness, purify our hearts, renew our minds and fill us with His Holy Spirit so that our thoughts and our actions are not controlled by our sinful nature but by the Spirit of God.
Just recently, I went to a production called UNMASKED: AWAKENING TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. It was amazing and the title really stuck with me. In order for change to come, the pretense must end, the mask must come off. Because it's only when we accept our weakness and rely on the Almighty God, that we are awakened to true righteousness, the robe of righteousness which Jesus Christ graciously bestows on us.