Worth Repeating - January 20, 2017

Isaiah 6: 5-7 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips . . .” . . . Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand . . . With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Every Christian knows that the nearer he approaches God, the more aware he becomes of his sin.*

Isaiah’s consternation is due to what he has seen: The Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted (verse 1).  Isaiah’s peek into the throne room of God has left him with an alarming awareness of his sinfulness and unworthiness. He specifically mentions his unclean lips, probably because he is about to be commissioned with delivering the word of God to people who aren’t interested in the message.

What could Isaiah have done to so defile his lips? Jesus said that it’s not what we put in our mouths that makes us unclean, but what comes out of it (Matthew 15: 11). What comes out of our mouths but words? How can words defile our lips? Words themselves seem harmless – powerless. But words can be weapons of mass destruction or instruments of healing, depending on whose mouth is speaking them. But if it’s what comes out of the mouth that defiles us, how did such nastiness get in there in the first place?

Our eyes and ears are the portals through which we allow ourselves to be sullied by the world. What you see can’t be unseen and what you hear can’t be unheard. As they say on Law & Order, “You can’t unring the bell.” Whether you invited the sight or sound into your mind, or whether it arrived by accident, it can become a tool for Satan to use against you. Once unwholesome thoughts take up residence in your head, they can turn into those words that defile your mouth.

What you say can’t be unsaid, only apologized for. God may say to you, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for,” but the damage has been done. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see; be careful little ears what you hear! Protect your lips from pollution by maintaining godly standards for what goes into your mind.

Words may be neither false, nor violent, nor defamatory, nor foul, nor senseless, nor profane, and yet be unwholesome.*