Hot Coals and Chapped Lips in America

"'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 Lord Almighty." - Isaiah 6:5

This text was penned by Isaiah in a great time of political upheaval. It strikes me that in a time of uncertainty, God granted to Isaiah this vision which speaks volumes to us today. After staring into the face of the Almighty, Isaiah became all to aware of the darkness in his life and the darkness of the people with whom he dwelled. As I look around the current situations in America, whether it be the great financial crisis, the dissolution of the nuclear family, or the jockeying of politicians in Washington, I am forced to confront the fact that we are a people of unclean lips. I...am a person of unclean lips. Knowing this to be inherently wrong, like Isaiah sometimes the overwhelming sinfulness of this world can be quite exasperating. What should we do? How do we change? In Isaiah's own story a Seraph touches a hot coal to his mouth and says "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and you sin atoned for." This little hot lump of coal seared the sin out of Isaiah's life. The lump of coal that seared the sin out of our lives was also straight from the altar, and his name was Jesus. If we are redeemed, then what we must do is like Isaiah. We must proclaim that we are ready to go and say what needs to be said, even when it is unpopular. Our message though it can be expressed in a few simple terms is the most revolutionary political platform to have ever been conceived. Love, forgiveness, justice, patience, dying to self, doing to the least of these, Christ are all aspects that make up the gospel. This is what our people need to hear, even if it offends them. I am no longer willing to tolerate simply blaming government for all of our problems. Our problems have come from the fact that all of us, from the crack house to the Senate House, to the House of Representatives, to the White House, and to my house are all unclean. We need to touch the coal of God's Word to our mouths again and speak truth to God's people again, but it takes more than speaking. We must carry the fire from the altar into every place where people dwell. Yes, this means we may have to deal with the poor, the discarded, the people in society that politicans talk so much about and yet so often rarely ever meet, but that is our mission. God never said to Isaiah, ohhh this will be so easy and you will always hang around with people just like you. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Christ went so far as to say that first we must die, then we must serve those least in the eyes of the people with the most. Maybe if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, some of the desperation and utter dependence on God that those without will rub off on us. Maybe we can get a little desperate. Maybe, with God's help, we can turn a generation of spoiled and comfortable Christians with unclean lips into a people whose hearts burn with a zeal to become the people of God that He wants us to be. However, the long and the short of it is this: it all begins with YOU!!! What are you going to do or say today for your God? Are you willing to take the coal of the gospel to those around you? Are you willing to put your life on the altar?