Righteousness - Infinite Devos 2
God is infinite in his RIGHTEOUSNESS
To be righteous means to love what is good and hate what is evil.
As you read, reflect on these three questions:
What does this mean for my life and my relationship with God?
What does this mean for my church and my relationship with the people at my church?
What does this mean for the world, and my relationship with the people of the world, especially non-Christians?
Isaiah 6:1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! 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 LordAlmighty.”
Cat’s Reflections
1. What does this mean for my life and my relationship with God?
There’s a need for major reflection of my own life and relationship with God. Isaiah himself was a prophet on top of being a righteous and godly man yet he was hit by his state of sin and flaws in the presence of the angels and of God. This is a realization that we must come to as we seek to encounter Him.
Before He can work in us, our image must be undone as Isaiah’s was. Not to belittle ourselves, call ourselves the scum of the Earth, and hate ourselves, but to realize that in comparison to God’s goodness and righteousness, we come so short and that’s the reason we need Him so much more.
This also means that we have an even greater reason to be bold in our personal praise to God. If the angels are without sin and praise God with enough power and conviction to shake the walls of the temple, shouldn’t I, who have sinned and have been saved by God, praise God with that same power and conviction?
2. What does this mean for my church and my relationship with the people at my church?
As a church we need to work together to uplift and be accountable to one another. As a body with the goal of serving God, it’s easy to become blind to our limitations and pride because we can sometimes confuse our desire to serve and fulfill the mission of God with serving our own egos. Like the prophet Isaiah came to realize his limits and humanity when he saw God and the angels, we as a church need to remember our humanity and the power of who we serve. We should do what we can to encourage ourselves, those who we’re close with in church, and all church members to come into the presence of God often.
We are partners in this journey and are responsible for one another. It’s not easy to continually seek what is good. If we cannot rely on one another to help us remember and correct us, who can we rely on? If we don’t keep each other accountable, outside voices giving advice can easily sway us if we don’t have each other to ground us.
3. What does this mean for the world, and my relationship with the people or the world, especially non-Christians?
As someone who is saved and has a relationship with God, I have knowledge that others who aren’t don’t. Isaiah and other prophets who have come into the presence of God in the Bible each have the revelation of their unclean nature in comparison to God. But people who have not turned to God are unaware and may refuse Him because of lies and illusions put forth by people who claim to be serving God. The people of the world are tired of false promises and are susceptible to anything that appears blunt, “real”, and has results.
We need to become the opposite of the false promises and elitist reputation that the Christian community has built. It’s hard, but as we continue to seek what is good, the way we present ourselves to nonbelievers matters. We must be to nonbelievers what the world is not: honest, reliable, steadfast, committed. This is what the world is seeking and this is how we can help them.