Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips… —Isaiah 6:5
When I come into the very presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense, but I suddenly realize and the focus of my attention is directed toward the concentration of sin in a particular area of my life. A person will easily say, “Oh yes, I know I am a sinner,” but when he comes into the presence of God he cannot get away with such a broad and indefinite statement. Our conviction is focused on our specific sin, and we realize, as Isaiah did, what we really are. This is always the sign that a person is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but a focusing on the concentration of sin in some specific, personal area of life. God begins by convicting us of the very thing to which His Spirit has directed our mind’s attention. If we will surrender, submitting to His conviction of that particular sin, He will lead us down to where He can reveal the vast underlying nature of sin. That is the way God always deals with us when we are consciously aware of His presence.
This experience of our attention being directed to our concentration of personal sin is true in everyone’s life, from the greatest of saints to the worst of sinners. When a person first begins climbing the ladder of experience, he might say, “I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong,” but the Spirit of God will point out some definite and specific thing to him. The effect of Isaiah’s vision of the holiness of the Lord was the directing of his attention to the fact that he was “a man of unclean lips.” “He touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged’ ” (Isaiah 6:7). The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated.
Continuing our practice of juxtaposing two devotional streams… Here is today’s selection from Richard Rohr featuring Shane Claiborne
There’s something powerful that happens when we can connect our faith with the pain of our world. We are concerned not just with going to heaven when we die, but with bringing God’s kingdom down here. That means figuring out how we can be a part of the restoration of our world. As we look at our neighborhood, what does it mean for us to pray the Lord’s Prayer, that God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? We pray and act for that every day because we believe that God’s kingdom is coming and we want it to come.
There’s a movement in the church to marry action and contemplation, to connect orthodoxy and orthopraxis. We’re not throwing out the things we believe, but we’re also focusing on practices that work out those beliefs. In the past few decades Christianity has primarily been about what we believe. But in Jesus we see an invitation to join our actions with a movement rather than ideas and doctrine.
I’m hopeful because people have grown tired of a Christianity that can say what it believes on paper but doesn’t have anything to show with our lives. Ideologies and doctrines aren’t easy things to love. That’s why I think we need to lift up examples of people who have joined their faith and action, folks like Francis and Clare of Assisi. Mother Teresa has also been a hero of mine.
What I love about Mother Teresa is that her life was her witness. She wasn’t a champion of unborn children because she wore a t-shirt that said “Abortion Is Murder,” but because she welcomed mothers and children. In essence, she said, “If you can’t raise your child, we’ll do it together.” That’s the kind of embodiment that comes as we seek to marry our beliefs to our actions. As Brian McLaren says, “It’s not just are we pro-life or pro-choice, but how are we pro-active?” Are we willing to take responsibility for our ideologies? In my neighborhood that means we’ve got to care for a fourteen-year-old girl and her child together.
Mother Teresa’s message was, “Calcutta is everywhere, if we only have eyes to see.” Pray that God would help us see our own Calcutta: the pain, poverty, loneliness, and ostracizing that happens all over. Each of us encounters situations that demand both prayer and activism. Pray that God would give us the eyes to see the pain of our neighborhoods.
Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, Since we have been looking at two devotionals, we have asked ourselves, “How are these the same?” Or different? And if they are different, can we hold the seeming contradiction and find truth in each.
Today the message of similarity is to get specific and get going… rather than staying conceptual. Chambers says get specific about our sin and God will cleanse it. Rohr’s guest author, Claiborne says get specific about joining actions to our compassion and your “kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven”
In looking at both my sins and my opportunities for action… I see overwhelmingly more than I can deal with. So I need your help. Focus me.
You are right. Your sins and your opportunities are massive. But rest, I will focus you, and sustain you. Know that I have paid for all your sin. It is all paid for as a free gift. You only need to wake up to it and receive it and walk in the freedom and newness. I know that’s foreign to your analytical way of thinking but I have sent the Helper, Holy Spirit to show you the way. Know that I am Love and my motivation is love. In dealing with you and all of my creation. I love it all. I love them all. But for now, you must know that I love you and will lead you and strengthen you both in dealing with your leftover sins and being a conduit to pour my love and grace into the world. In both areas we’ll only focus on one thing at a time. Or you will wear out. Just like I had Jethro say to Moses. …If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.” Ex 18:23
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