Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Residue From a Stream of Blue-Speak

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord.  He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.  Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings.  With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.  They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!  The whole earth is filled with his glory!”  Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.  Then I said, “It’s all over!  I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.  I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips.  Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”  Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.  He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips.  Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”  Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people?  Who will go for us?”  I said, “Here I am. Send me.”  Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah’s overwhelming fright at the realization that he was in the presence of the God of his ancestors, the one called Yahweh, the one, true, living God, was overwhelming.  His first thought was I’m doomed!  His second thought was:  It’s that stream of blue speak from my own lips, and the whole culture around me; we’re filthy, and standing naked before the God who sees and hears everything.

God’s first reaction to this honest, unfiltered confession was to have an angel cleanse the sinner, and then challenge the sinner to go forward with cleansed lips. Those lips would not turn the air blue with his words anymore, but fill the air with words of purity, white as the driven snow, cleansed with crimson, like the blood of a lamb.  It was similar to what Jesus said to the adulterous woman the Pharisees brought to him for judgment and punishment.  They wanted blood on the woman, and a stain on Jesus’ record.  But Jesus said to start throwing stones if they had no sin in them.  They left one-by-one, and, once alone with the woman, Jesus said:  There’s nobody left to accuse you…go…and remember to live like you’ve been forgiven…because you have.[1]

Isaiah first impeached himself about the “unclean lips” thing.  But he got down to the rest of us quickly.  He said he lived in the middle of the rest of humanity that was just as vile.  It wasn’t just some false humility, or an aw-shucks momentary blush to lessen his own guilt.  He wasn’t saying I’m no worse than all these other people.  He was saying just the opposite…I’m NOT O.K.…and NEITHER are YOU.   If Isaiah were preaching that today, he’d have a hard time getting a hearing.  It seems like turning the air blue has gone viral.  As a culture, we’re not even civil anymore, we’re polarized and hurling insult, curse, and blame across the divding line.  It seems Isaiah had it right about his view of all humanity…we’re doomed!

And then…enter the Christ into the throne room of Heaven just days after the cross and tomb, carrying the hot, cleansing coal of his own blood, forgiving the guilt of “blue-speak”.  It’s not just our words, all the hate-stuff, and speech-bombs – it’s the source of our words, driven-out of our lips by the corruptness of our inner sinfulness.  And that’s been working endlessly at separating us from God, our Creator.  Today’s culture is a reflection of that blue streak of vitriol and violence.  And without Jesus, we are truly doomed!

For You Today

As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Roman believers, we must not copy the customs (or blue-streak-lip-language) of this generation…disciples of Jesus Christ are rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.[2]                         

That is what is right and pleasing in God’s eyes (and ears)!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©  


[1] This is my interpretation of Jesus’ statements to the woman in John 8:10-11

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