At the conclusion of every year, we share some of our favourite videos from the past 12 months, either because of some nice videography, or some content we thought was really exciting. Enjoy – we’ll return with fresh content next week!
Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for this daily challenge. It’s Thursday, the day we try to apply and live out what we’ve learned this week from the Bible. This week we’ve been studying that God is…Holy.
Two days ago, we read the Ten Commandments, and yesterday we read about a man who had a vision of being in God’s court, and felt terribly inadequate and afraid when confronted with God’s holiness, because it revealed the man’s unholiness, and in fact the unworthiness of the entire human race.
This might seem hopeless – here he is in a place where he should not be. He’s expecting to be struck dead on the spot, probably.
But here’s what happened next:
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:6-7
God knows the man is unholy, imperfect, sinful and broken. Isaiah knows it, too. The Ten Commandments, he’s part of the Nation of Israel that received them directly from God. But because of sin, they and all humans have been unable to follow those commandments. We simply can’t make ourselves holy and acceptable to God. We have no hope in ourselves alone, but we aren’t hopeless..
In this story, he simply takes away Isaiah’s guilt, and atones for his sin. Atone basically means to make two things “at one” – to bring God and human together. To do that, you have to destroy what was separating them. The angel burns it out of Isaiah’s life in this vision, but what about us?
Great news is, God did it again, for us all. He made it possible for us all to become holy and acceptable to him through the actions of his son Jesus.
God’s son, prefect and holy as he was, came to our messed up world and became one of us. He lived as the one completely holy human being ever, and through his death he atoned for us.
He makes us clean and acceptable when we weren’t. We aren’t perfect and holy yet – you probably know that. But he acts as if we are, and then he gets to work making us that way.
If you’ve struggled to be good, perfect, holy and religious, you’re not alone. Everyone who’s tried has failed. But Jesus wants to see you differently. Have you asked him? Have you asked him to atone for your sins, and destroy the sin separating you? Have you experienced the freedom of being set free from sin, and able to have a relationship with a holy God? Then you’ve been justified. If you haven’t, pray for that right now.
That doesn’t mean you are perfect and holy yet, God just sees the finished product and starts working on you. Then begins the process of sanctification, where God makes a believe holy, more like him every day, through the work of his Holy Spirit. You’ll still fail, sin, but when you surrender to the Holy Spirit he will help you repent and grow in holiness, rather than wallowing in self-pity.
Challenge: In what ways do you feel unholy, inadequate in life? Ask Jesus to atone for your sins, and reconnect you with God. Then, ask the Holy Spirit to transform your life to become more and more holy.