Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Something that I've always had to remind myself of is that there is a difference from abstaining from what is bad and actually doing what is good. See, in my younger years, I spent so much of my life as a professing Christian, only thinking about not doing bad things. As I grew in my friendships and as I went to school, I would look around and I would say, I can't do that. I can't hang out with these people. I'm not supposed to say this.
All it did was create walls in my life, and I was doing my best to keep all of this evil, all of this muck away. But I wasn't focusing on how God wanted to lead me to actually lead a godly life where I was bringing about good in the spaces around me. If that's how we view our relationship with God, it leaves out so much of what God has for us in life as followers of Jesus.
The Call to Turn Toward God
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet is calling the people of Israel to turn away from their sins. They've been distracted from worshiping God. They've turned toward themselves and everything seems to be going wrong. He's saying, "Repent. Turn away." But at the same time, he's also reminding them that they need to turn toward God.
See the commands in this verse here, Isaiah chapter 1, verse 17, come in response to God telling the Israelites to wash themselves. He says, "Go and wash yourself. Make yourselves clean. Get rid of all that gunk that is keeping you away from Me." Then He follows up with this higher calling, saying, "Seek to do good and justice and to help the oppressed. Think about the orphans and the widows and the underprivileged. Serve all the people around you." There's a beautiful way of living.
We Can't Clean Ourselves
If you're familiar with the Gospel, maybe this verse gives you a moment of hesitation because the Gospel teaches us that we can't make ourselves clean. We can't wash ourselves. That was our need for a Savior—is that no matter how much good we did, it would never undo all the evil that we brought about in our lives. How could God possibly call the Israelites to leave behind their lives of sin, wash themselves clean and then suddenly start to do what was right?
Well, that's why the verse that follows this verse is just as important to understand what God is revealing to the Israelites. Because in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18, we read this: "'Come now, let's settle this,' says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.'"
God Does the Cleansing
When God told the Israelites to cleanse themselves, it was to reveal the fact that they couldn't. That there was nothing they could do to wipe away all of their sins. It was meant to give them this moment of learning dependency: I need someone else to do this. That's when God steps in and He says, that's the point. I will do this for you. I will wash you white as snow. I will turn that crimson red stain and I will make it as white as wool.
This is the point of the Gospel. Is this moment of realization to say, I can't do this on my own. I need a Savior. I need God to wash me clean. I need His Spirit to lead me into good works.
There Is More for You
If you find yourself caught in this tension of feeling like the Christian life is all about just kicking away the bad, just know that there is more for you in your relationship with God. He wants to pull you out of your darkest moments. He wants to clean you off and put you on a firm foundation. He wants to give you His Spirit so that you could know and understand His heart, and so that He might lead you into holy living and life everlasting.
That is the beauty and the power of the Gospel. I pray that we would celebrate that every single day as we live it out in our lives.